How Did We Get Here?
by foldintothenight
Summary: The WWE is at war, and no one is safe. The roster is supposed to be a family. Now it's just chaos. What caused things to get to this point? Come inside and find out! - Co-write with shiki94. Rated T for mild swearing and violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this should be interesting. This is Ronnie's "hole in the head". You know, the phrase "I need another _ like I need a hole in the head"? Yeah, this is that for me. I couldn't help it, though. There is only one more chapter left of "True Love Waits", so I'll have more time because of that. This one is a co-write, though. So it won't be all on me. Also, I'm making it clear right now that this is not a typical romance story. Sure, there will be romance in it, but this is life we're talking about. It's part of the drama.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the WWE or any of it's employees. If I did, I would be Vince McMahon. I do, however, own Alex (Billy Alexander), Marcus, and Mary Williams. My co-writer, shiki94, owns Alex Hardy. We share the plot.**

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"_How did we get here?__  
__Well I used to know you so well__  
__How did we get here?__  
__Well I think I know_" – "Decode" by Paramore

The words coming out of Hayley Williams's mouth filled Mary's ears. The one thing that the first Twilight movie was good for was the soundtrack. Mary had always loved the song, but it never had any really meaning in her life before now. Tears ran down her face as she laid back against the pillows on the bed in her hotel room. She was happy to be on the road that night, not wanting to have to deal with anything at home. She replayed the events from the night over in her mind as a man that wasn't the love of her life walked out of the bathroom and over to the bed, sitting down next to her. He wasn't there for anything except comfort, but that still felt out of place for Mary. None of this felt right.

She didn't understand how things had gotten so far, or why everything had gotten so bad. It could have easily been stopped, but the board had decided to see where things went. Why? Simple: ratings. The popularity of the WWE had never been greater than what it had become in the past couple of months. So why would they stop what was going on? 3MB and The Shield were only precursors to what was happening now. A simple walk in the park. Now at least one of the company's top names was being sent to the hospital each week. Everything was finally going well for Maryanne Williams, but now she had to figure out what to tell her young son about the man he had recently began referring to as "daddy". Ted DiBiase was the last man that anyone would expect to turn on someone...

Two years earlier...

It all started at the taping of the wedding episode of NXT. That night was an interesting one to say the least. Mary's mentor, Goldust, who's real name was Dustin Runnels, was marrying his rookie, Aksana, because there was something wrong with her immigration papers. Lame storyline, but they went with it. Mary had suspected that something was up. She even voiced it to Dustin, who actually agreed. He asked her to come to the taping of that episode to strike fear in the young rookie. She agreed when he told her that his younger brother, Cody, would be there. Mary may have already been on the main roster, but she hadn't really gotten a chance to interact with her old friend. This was largely due in part to the fact that she had spent the better part of her first year in the company intentionally avoiding her high school sweetheart, Ted DiBiase Jr., who just happened to be Cody's best friend and tag team partner. Dustin had neglected to tell Mary that Ted and his father would be there that night as well. She had talked to Ted a bit that night and began texting with him after, slowly building a potentially renewed relationship. After Goldust filed for a divorce from Aksana, Mary stepped in to feud against her high school sweetheart and his current storyline girlfriend, Maryse. The first time they had a mixed tag match Mary stayed in the ring for a few moments after Maryse tagged Ted in. Mary smiled at him, tilting her head before punching him in the gut before turning and walking out, doing a little hair flip. The text she got from him later that night was hilarious. He had asked her if that was her way of asking him out. She simply responded with "maybe" and left it at that.

On a sunny afternoon in March, Mary drove up to Ted DiBiase Sr.'s spring home in West Palm Beach with her son with a smile on her face. She had promised to talk to him later after seeing him on NXT, but this was the first time she had gotten a chance to since that night. She sat in the backyard with her former boyfriend's father as two year-old Marcus played with his toys on the ground in front of her.

"He's a beautiful little boy, sweetheart," The Million Dollar Man smiled as he looked to the boy who could have easily been his grandson had life played out a little differently.

"Thank you, Mister DiBiase. He's starting to look like his father. Which is really hard on me," she sighed softly.

Ted Sr. frowned, tilting his head to take in the expression of the young girl in front of him. "If I may, what happened to his father?"

Mary took a deep breath, running her fingers through her brunette locks. "Drunk driver," she stated simply, biting her lip.

"I'm so sorry, hon. When did it happen?" he leaned over, taking her hand.

"Literally the day that I found out that I was pregnant," she sighed. "He was on his way home. I was going to tell him that night."

"Not to pry, but has there been anyone else since then?" there was a small smile on Ted Sr.'s face. He knew how in love she and his middle son had once been in, and part of him hoped that they would get together again someday.

She shrugged, shaking her head. "I didn't even really think of it again until a few months ago when we were all on NXT for that silly wedding."

"Anything in particular that sparked that thought?" he smirked, knowing that she would catch on right away.

She rolled her eyes, laughing softly. "I did see Cody for the first time in a while that night. Oh wait... he's like my bratty little brother, hmm..." she giggled, licking her lips.

"You still feel something for my son, don't you?" he smiled, looking up to see someone walking up behind Mary.

"You don't have to answer that, Maryanne," Ted walked up to them with a grin.

Mary spun around, "Teddy Bear?!" She jumped up, hugging him tightly. "I didn't know you were going to be here."

Ted chuckled, returning the hug. "I visit my parents often. You were the one who didn't tell me you were going to see my dad."

"Right, right," she giggled, swaying a bit in his arms.

"Mommy, why did you call him Teddy Bear? He doesn't look like the teddy bear in your bed," Marcus walked over to his mother.

Ted Sr. cleared his throat, "I'm going to see if your mother needs any help in the kitchen." He chuckled as he walked inside the house.

Mary blushed, licking her lips. "No, but he cuddles like one. Which I really miss." She glared at Ted, warning him to refrain from any comment he was about to make in front of her son as she picked the small boy up, balancing him on her hip. "This is mommy's friend Ted. Teddy Bear is my nickname for him."

"Oh, so _you're_ Marcus," Ted grinned as he kept one arm around Mary's waist. "Your mommy has told me a lot about you."

Marcus pouted, putting his hands on his hips. "She did?"

Ted nodded with a chuckle, "all good things, I promise. She usually talks about how much she misses you all of the time."

"Do you work with my mommy?" the small boy rested his head on his mother's shoulder.

"I do. We travel all over together," Ted smiled, running his hand along the small of Mary's back.

"Do you wrestle with her?" Marcus looked at Ted with innocent eyes.

Mary's eyes widened as Ted let out a sharp breath. "Sometimes. Usually when one of our other friends is wrestling with us."

"Like when she's with Uncle Dustin? Mommy doesn't like wrestling girls, but she has to," Marcus frowned.

Ted nodded, "your mom works with Dustin a lot. They've known each other just about as long as she and I have known each other."

"How long have you known mommy, Ted?" Marcus yawned, rubbing his eyes.

"Ever since we were a little older than you. Our daddies were friends when we were kids," Ted smiled then looked up at Mary. "Looks like nap time."

Mary nodded, "do you think your parents have somewhere we can lay him down?"

"We can put him in my old room," Ted nodded, leading her inside. After laying Marcus down, Ted and Mary walked down to the living room, sitting down on the couch.

Mary looked over to him with a smirk, "you can say it now."

"You sleep with a teddy bear?" Ted grinned, bringing an arm around her shoulders.

She nodded with a blush, "and I call it Ted. I didn't even consciously realize the connection for months. I got it while I was pregnant."

"I guess that means that you miss sleeping with me," he leaned into her a bit, licking his lips.

"In both ways," she murmured as she turned to face him with a sigh. Before she could continue, their lips met. It was a short, yet passionate kiss. She wanted to let it go on longer than a brief moment, but fear stood in her way. "Ted..." she whispered, biting her lip.

He frowned, pulling away from her. "Sorry, I just thought..."

She brought a hand to his chest, pulling him close to her once again. "And we both felt it."

He wrapped his arms around her with a sigh, "talk to me, Mary. I've felt like I've been falling in love with you all over again these past few months."

She looked down for a moment, groaning silently in frustration. "It's already hard enough to force myself to care that your parents are just down the hall right now. I need you, Ted. I just don't know if I can."

He kissed her forehead with a frown. "Well, I'm not going anywhere. We don't have to jump into things. I know that you've been through a lot. We can continue being friends."

She took a deep breath, "hey Ted..."

He looked into her eyes, "yeah?"

"Can I have one more?" She smiled, leaning in a little.

He closed the gap between them, showing just how much he still cared about her in one kiss. Without noticing, she pressed into the kiss, running her tongue along his lips. Just as they started to make out, his father walked in, clearing his throat.

"I guess that I have my answer," Ted Sr. chuckled.

Ted and Mary slowly pulled away, Mary burying her face in Ted's shoulder. "It's complicated, Dad," Ted sighed.

"I know, but you'll be able to figure things out eventually," the older man nodded in understanding.

…

As the weeks went by Ted and Mary continued on as friends. Not much after their little make-out session she admitted that her hesitation was due to fear that Marcus could get attached to Ted and worried what could happen if things were to happen to not work out. This hurt Ted, but he understood. Eventually, they began sharing a hotel room and even sometimes a bed, just for night time cuddling purposes. Mary kept herself focused on her work, wanting to prove herself as a dominant wrestler as she approached her first shot at the Intercontinental Championship. It was just after WrestleMania, and fellow female Superstar, Alex Hardy had just lost the title to Wade Barrett. Mary knew that both she and Alex were both evenly matched with Wade, and decided to throw her name in the hat to compete for the title. She was just about to shoot a backstage segment, declaring her desire to take the title from Wade when Aksana approached her.

"You don't really think that you have what it takes to actually win a title from one of the men here?" the Lithuanian snarled at her nemesis.

"Actually, I know that I do, you slutty, gold digging bitch!" Mary shot back.

Just then, Kaitlyn and AJ were walking up, a worried look crossing both of their faces. "Oh no..." AJ whispered.

"Please," Aksana flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I think we both know why you really wrestle against the men. You couldn't get one of them in bed if you handcuffed them to the bedpost."

Mary rolled her eyes with a chuckle, "oh yes. That is why the father of my son just happens to be a wrestler. Try again, wannabe."

"You probably paid him," the dark haired Diva hissed with an evil glint in her eyes.

That's when Mary had enough. She lunged at Aksana, hitting her multiple times as they fell to the ground. AJ and Kaitlyn rushed over, trying to pull Mary off of the smaller woman, but the rage made her too strong for them. AJ ran off to find help as Kaitlyn continued to attempt to break things up.

AJ ran into Alex in the hallway, panting as she looked to her friend. "Need... help..."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "what's going on?"

AJ took a deep breath, "Mary and Aksana. They hate each other. It's a long, messed up story."

Alex nodded skeptically as AJ pulled her off in the direction where the other women were fighting. When Alex saw that not even Kaitlyn could pull them apart, her eyes widened in shock. "So this is the other girl in my league?" She smirked as AJ nodded and walked over to the brawl, pulling Mary away as Kaitlyn grabbed the other woman. "Get that bitch out of here," Alex barked at Kaitlyn. She smiled, letting Mary go as Kaitlyn walked Aksana to the medic room.

AJ sighed, hugging Mary. "It's okay, babe. She doesn't know, and even if she did, she wouldn't care."

Mary sighed, returning the hug. "I could have killed her."

AJ smirked as she pulled away, "then you'd never get to see your son again, Mare. We know that you don't want that."

"Fill a girl in?" Alex laughed nervously, waving at the other girls.

Mary nodded, giving Alex the cliff notes of her feud with Aksana and the story about Marcus. "Would you believe that I even have a kayfabe baby daddy?" she laughed as she finished her explanation.

Alex blinked, shaking her head. "That's messed up."

Mary nodded, "Stephanie said that she has plans for it in the future." She shrugged, "we'll see where it goes."

Ted and Cody, who had just been in a match, walked up to the three girls. Ted frowned, immediately noticing that Mary had just been in a fight. "What happened?"

Mary turned to her male best friends, sighing. "Aksana."

They both nodded as Ted walked over to her, hugging her tightly. "I have a feeling that is going to last as long as you're both here."

"Well, I don't plan on going anywhere for a long time," Mary sighed as she laid her head on Ted's shoulder. "You're all nice and sweaty," she giggled.

"You like it," he smirked, rubbing her back.

Cody rolled his eyes, "would you two just get back together already?"

"You remember how hard it was to get us together the first time? It took like two years," Mary giggled.

"But you also lived like five states away from each other and barely got a chance to hang out," Cody pointed out.

"It's more than that this time, Cody," Ted sighed as he slowly pulled away from the girl that he loved.

Mary bit her lip, running her fingers through her hair. "How about you two shower and I'll put myself back together, then we'll hang out until the end of the show?"

Cody motioned to the other girls with a playful grin, "will they be there?"

"Kaitlyn too, if you're a good boy," Mary giggled, poking her friend in the ribs. She sighed as they retreated to the locker rooms and changed into their street clothes to wear for the rest of the night. The girls, joined by Kaitlyn, found a room that was vacant and sat down and Mary turned to Alex. "Hi..." she giggled.

Alex smirked, "hello! So that was some fight."

Mary sighed, nodding. "I was literally about to go and make my official declaration of my intention to go after Wade."

"You trying to go after my title, girl?" Alex laughed.

"You know... we could probably get an awesome storyline out of this," Mary giggled. "Wanna have an on-screen rivalry?"

Alex thought for a moment before nodding, "I'm in. I have a feeling this can be a lot of fun."


	2. Chapter 2

**We really hope that you are enjoying this so far. We apologize if it feels like things are a little slow to start out with, but we want to establish a few things before getting into the main plot. Don't forget to let us know what you think. Please R&R!**

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It had been a few months since Alex Hardy had the opportunity to meet and mentor AJ Lee and Kaitlyn. Over this time the three had slowly started to turn into best friends. Alex had been making sure to spend her time talking things out with her brothers, her dad, and her friends whenever she had an urge to start cutting herself again. A large majority of the teasing that she had to deal with seemed to die down some, but it didn't die away completely. She didn't take it to heart though, seeing as how most of her tormentors were Superstars and Divas that she had beaten numerous times before. Some time after her big reveal of her scars, she had custom-made arm warmers made that would allow her to show her scars to let people know that they were an important part of who she is. Then, after getting an outpouring of admiration from fans because of her confession, Vince McMahon decided to let Alex have a run with the Intercontinental Championship after she beat Kofi Kingston. She was still amazed that this going to be her second run with the title, not to mention that she had beaten one of the WWE's best rookie Superstars. However, not long after she had won the title and defended against Kofi, she had to put the title up in a match against Wade Barrett, where she lost in a match that was evenly-contested on both sides.

"Man, Wade. I still can't believe that you managed to beat me. That was a hell of a match we had," Alex said, one night during SmackDown tapings.

"It really was. More intense than most of the matches that I've had with guys like John Cena, that's for sure," Wade attempted to raise her spirits with a laugh.

"I wouldn't say that I'm Cena's caliber just yet. I mean, after all of these years, I'm still a gawky and awkward little18-year-old girl that's too shy to even do autograph signings. I'm definitely not an elite Superstar like him," Alex said, blushing.

"Well, in my opinion, I think if given the chance, you could give Cena a real run for his money," Wade replied with a grin.

"The only way that'd ever happen would be if Vince and creative finally got their heads out of their collective asses and see that there is a wellspring of talent they don't use right," Alex stated bluntly, shaking her head.

"All I can say is that it'll happen sooner or later. I mean, look at one of the other women that's on your level, Mary Williams. She's come a long way from just going up against the Divas and having matches on NXT. Now she's getting a chance to have a program with me for the title," Wade shrugged.

"Mary Williams?" She paused, thinking a moment, "Oh, I know who you're talking about. I always hear AJ and Katie talking about her, but my shyness always prevents me from making a move to say anything to her," Alex said, blushing and pulling at the strings on the Batman Laplander hat she was wearing.

"Are you sure it isn't because of the fact that you want her to help you get chummier with young Cody Rhodes? I see the way you look at them when they're talking and you practically seethe jealousy," Wade nudged her playfully, smirking.

"What? Don't be silly! I'm just really shy when it comes to talking to other people, Wade. Haven't Matt and Jeff told you that about me all the times you guys have gone out to party at clubs?" Alex began blushing even deeper.

"Sure you are, that's why I always see you getting hyper like a child that's just been force-fed candy whenever you're with your little group of friends. All I'm saying is that you're going to have to learn to squash that shyness of yours if you wish to branch out to others. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go down to the ring for my match against Justin. I'll see you around," Wade said as he walked off.

As Alex watched Wade leave, she couldn't help but think over everything that he had just said. He was dead-on right about her having to do something about her shyness issues, especially if she wanted to try to make friends with more of her co-workers. So, after heaving a sigh, she decided to walk around the backstage area while listening to Family Force 5 songs on her iPod while trying to find either one of her brothers or any of her friends. She was about to walk around a corner when she collided right into a panting and red-faced AJ.

"Whoa AJ! You alright? Is something the matter?" Alex asked, tilting her head to the side.

"No…time…need…help…" AJ said, in between pants.

"OK. Just lead me to the problem and I'll do my best to help out," Alex said, letting AJ lead her to the problem area.

As the two made their way to where AJ was leading them. Alex couldn't help but assume that it was possibly Kaitlyn that had gotten into a fistfight with Eve, so she was surprised to find that Kaitlyn was helping to stop the fight that was going on between Aksana and, the next contender for Wade Barrett's title, Mary.

"You want me to help break up a fight between Aksana and the girl that wants her head on a stick? The girl who's on the same level as me?" Alex blinked, looking to AJ.

"Yes please! We don't want to run the risk of Mary getting suspended for this, so could you please help break them up?" AJ pleaded with her friend.

"OK. I'll see what I can do," Alex said as she made her way over to where Kaitlyn had been trying to stop the two women.

"Alex, thank God you're here. I've been trying to pull them off of each other, but I can't do it on my own," Kaitlyn looked up to Alex, panting with desperate eyes.

"It's good to know that you've been doing your best. Now, I'll grab Mary and you grab Aksana," Alex said, as she and Kaitlyn moved to pull the two fighting women apart. "Now, grab Aksana and take her away to the medic's office."

Kaitlyn did as she was told while Alex maintained her grip on a still-fighting Mary until she felt the other woman begin to calm down.

AJ stepped in front of Mary, biting her lip. "Mary... Mary, it's OK. Aksana's gone now. Just calm down."

When Mary was finally calmed down, AJ pulled her into a hug. Alex looked on as AJ calmed Mary down and was amazed that she had so much fight in her against just one Diva. So taking the chance to say something, she cleared her throat and said "Umm, hi there. Not that introductions may be needed, but I'm Alexis Hardy. But if you'd like you can call me Alex."

"Hmm, I like the sound of that. A girl named Alex. So cute, and in case you didn't already know, I'm Mary Williams," Mary smirked as she looked Alex over, not so secretly checking the girl out.

"So, I take it that you and Aksana don't really like each other all that much, do you?" Alex blushed, looking down as she fiddled with her glasses.

"Please, that doesn't even begin to describe how much I despise her," Mary huffed as she forced herself to remain calm.

"Mind filling a girl in on what happened?" Alex asked.

After Mary and AJ both took turns explaining what happened, Alex shook her head and said "Damn, that's just messed up. Can't believe she actually did something that dirty. Now I can see why you don't like her."

"Yeah, well, it's a good thing AJ was able to find you when she did. I probably would've killed Aksana if I had the chance," Mary said.

"Then you would've been thrown in jail and Marcus would've been all alone," AJ pouted sympathetically.

"You're right. And I couldn't do that to my baby," Mary sighed, running he fingers through her hair.

Raising an eyebrow, Alex looked to Mary and asked, "Marcus? Who's Marcus, your boyfriend?"

"No. You see, my young friend, I've got a son and he means the world to me. That's why I can't let myself lose it and try to kill Aksana when she says anything to me or about me," Mary said, as she dived deeper into explaining her history with Aksana and more about Marcus.

"Oh I see. I can see why you don't like her so much. She tends to act like such a pompous ass sometimes," Alex nodded.

Hearing the three ladies talk, Ted DiBiase Jr. and one of his best friends, Cody Rhodes, walked up to the three. Upon noticing that Mary had looked she was just in a fight, Ted looked to Mary and asked, "did something happen that I should know about?"

"Oh, nothing really, Teddy Bear. Just Aksana problems, that's all," Mary looked over to her old boyfriend with a frown.

"I should've known, especially considering the fact that you two are practically on the same branch of the roster now," Ted sighed, pulling Mary in for a hug.

Giggling, Mary said "You're so sweaty right now, Ted."

"You know you like it, Mare," Ted said, laughing.

"I really wish you two would just get back together. Nobody and nothing's stopping you two," Cody sighed softly for his friends in frustration.

"Well, if you'd like, we could always set you up with somebody, Coddles," Mary smirked as she eyed her friends.

"No, thank you. Relationships for me can wait," Cody shook his head at his female best friend.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mary noticed that Alex was standing far away from Cody, while she pulled her Batman Laplander down to cover most of her face and she played with the strings of the customized woolen cap. When Mary saw this an idea began to formulate in her mind. "Hey Ted. How about all of us hang out tonight?" Mary looked up into Ted's eyes, fighting off the urge to kiss him.

"Sure. I've just gotta shower off and change first," Ted nodded.

As the group broke off and left to their own locker rooms, Mary caught Alex from behind and pulled her back to walk beside her. "I know a secret about you, Alexis," Mary said in a sing-song voice.

"What do you mean?" Alex adverted her eyes as she attempted denial. After seeing the three multi-generation superstars interacting, she realized that she didn't really have a reason to be jealous of Mary's relationship with Cody. Rather, they were like brother and sister, and Mary only had eyes for Ted. Still, that didn't stop Alex from wanting to shy away from the situation.

"I happen to know that you like a certain male co-worker of ours," Mary smirked with a small giggle.

"What?! N-no, I-I don't," Alex stammered.

"Sure you do. That's why I'm inviting you to our little group hangout session tonight. There's no way I'm letting you just play the lonely chick tonight while the object of your crush is in the same room with me and two other single ladies," Mary stated matter-of-factually with a grin.

"I'm just wondering where this is coming from. I mean, I'm really not crushing on anyone. In case you haven't noticed, a lot of these guys are technically off-limits for me," Alex insisted, all while practically feeling her nose growing.

Turning to look at Alex, Mary sighed and shook her head. Her big sisterly side kicking in. "Not everyone is, sweetie. And I'm sorry, but you can't deny it. Your body language is betraying you. I've been noticing how you look at my dear friend, Cody."

Hearing Mary say his name caused Alex to immediately start blushing and pull her hat down to cover her eyes, not verbally responding.

Mary laughed, playfully taunting her new friend. "I knew it! I knew you had a soft spot for Coddles!"

Pulling her hat farther down on her face, she finally replied, "so what if I do? I'm probably not even his type anyways. I mean, he probably wants a girl with a model's body for a girlfriend, not a short geek."

"Hon, trust and believe me when I say that looks don't matter to Cody. I could always set you two up if you'd like," Mary offered with a shrug.

"If you really want to, I wouldn't mind. Just try not to make a show out of it, OK? Matt and Jeff ride me enough over the fact that I like him," Alex squeaked out in a soft voice, knowing she could no longer get out of it.

After spending some more time talking about other topics, Mary finally came across talking about her upcoming Intercontinental Championship feud with Wade.

"Haha. So you're the lucky person that's going up against Wade for my title next?" Alex grinned at her new friend.

"Yes indeed. I was amazed when you held it a few months ago and even when you had it the first time when you were smaller. So I figured, why not throw my hat into the ring to go after it?" Mary state with a shrug. "I miss going up against guys, and this is the perfect opportunity."

"In all honesty, it would be pretty cool to see another girl go after a supposed guys only title. But, I've got an idea over how to make it more interesting," Alex grinned evilly, the wheels turning in her head.

"Lay it on me. I'm all ears," Mary returned the grin.

"How about we try to get it set up so that after you challenge Wade to a match for the belt, I come out and say that I want in on it too?" Alex offered eagerly.

"That's a brilliant idea. It'd be interesting for there to be a three person feud for one of the most prestigious titles in WWE's history, and for two of the people involved to be females. Let's do it," Mary nodded, bouncing in her seat a little.

…

After Wade finished his match against Justin Gabriel, he asked for a microphone from Justin Roberts.  
"Another member of the WWE roster falls victim to the Barrett Barrage. I'm starting to feel that there is no one worthy enough or competitive enough to face me. Just for kicks, I'm throwing an open challenge out there for anyone on the roster who wants to challenge me to a match for my title," Wade said.

As soon as those words left his mouth, the opening chord of "I'm So Sick" started to play as Mary made her way down to the ring with a smirk on her face. She grabbed a mic for herself and stepped in the ring to stand face-to-face with Wade. "I'm willing to accept that challenge, dear Wade," Mary stated with authority.

"Little lady, I seriously doubt that you have it in you to compete against someone of my caliber. I'm one of the strongest fighters in the WWE today, so I wouldn't want to hurt a pretty face like yours," Wade retorted, not at all impressed by this challenger.

"Ha! You're making me laugh here, Wade. I've competed against tougher guys than you before, so I have a feeling I could beat you in no time at all for that belt," Mary smirked, raising her eyebrows. "Unless you're afraid of a former Oz Academy champion. Which is a hardcore woman's company in Japan, for those who don't know," she looked around at the audience.

"Well, if it's a match against me that you want, then it's a match against me that you'll get," Wade nodded, showing respect for the woman in the ring with him.

Shortly after those words left his mouth, the opening chord of "Holy Diver" played and Alex came to stand at the top of the stage area, looking down at the two in the ring. "Really now, Mary? You really think you've got what it takes to go after one of the most important belts in all of the WWE today?" Alex gave the two people in the ring a secret wink as she finished her opening statement.

"I know for a fact that I can beat Wade just as easily as you could and just as quickly too. So if you want to dance, bring it on!" Mary stated flirtatiously.

While the two female Superstars went back and forth, Theodore Long's music started to play and he came out onto the stage area too.

"Looks like you two both want a crack at Wade's belt. So, seeing as how I'm the general manager, I'm making a match that's never been done before. Mary Williams vs Alex Hardy vs Wade Barrett in a triple threat match, for the Intercontinental Championship, and that match will happen three weeks from tonight," Theodore stated with authority.

"Sounds good to me. I can't wait to take that pretty little belt from you, Wade. And Alex, maybe I'll let you have a match for it after I win it," Mary said, dropping her mic, heading up the ramp and backstage, ending the segment.

…

As soon as Alex and Wade made it backstage, the two met up with Mary, who was standing around waiting for them.

"OK, now that was a lot of fun," Alex said laughing.

"I know right? I'm just wondering who'll be the one to come out on top when we have the match. I'm sure it's gonna be interesting for everyone to see two girls compete in the same ring with a man for what's supposed to be a males-only title," Mary giggled.

"All I can say is that if I do lose this title, it'll be good to know that it'll be going to either one of you two. I'm sure this'll put your names in the history books for sure," Wade said, smiling.

"That's the kind of reaction I'm sure this match will get. Maybe it'll help the higher-ups finally see that there's so much potential in us wrestlers that don't really get used as much," Alex stated wistfully.

"Hon, after this storyline between us is over, I think the higher-ups will seriously want to reconsider how they've been using us," Mary grinned.

"It just makes me wonder though. Now, I think we should be heading to meet up with the others," Alex said.

"Yeah, good point. We'll see you around Wade," Mary said, as she and Alex walked off.

Wade just shook his head with a grin as he watched the girls walk off, part of him wondering what he had just gotten himself into.

Mary and Alex walked to meet up with their friends when it suddenly hit Mary that she hadn't seen Matt or Jeff around all night. "Hey Alex, I've been meaning to ask. Where are your brothers? I thought they were here with you," Mary pouted. She was trying to hide it, but she always looked up to the Hardy Boyz, and even had a little crush on Jeff once upon a time.

"Those two jokers must've gone back to the hotel. I wasn't really counting on running into AJ earlier so I was looking for one of them to ask if they could take me back to the hotel," Alex shrugged.

"And why is that, might I ask?" Mary asked.

"I don't really do all that well in social situations aside from on-screen chatter, so I usually just camp out in the locker room we share until either Matt or Jeff or one of my friends is ready to leave," Alex answered sheepishly.

"Well, I'm taking it upon myself to open you up some. Especially if you want any chance with Cody," Mary said, smiling.

"All I can say is good luck with that. Now, let's just head inside with the others," Alex said, trying to hide a new blush as she opened the locker room door to find everyone waiting in there.

"OK, now. That bit between you two down there at the ring just now was so awesome," AJ grinned, proud of her friends.

"Nice to know you think so, babe," Mary said, hugging AJ. "Cody, I hope that you remember AJ and Kaitlyn. This is my new friend, Alex. I'm about to start an on-screen rivalry with her."

"AJ and Kaitlyn, I know. I just haven't had the chance to get to know Alex yet. I hardly ever see her around, so it's amazing that you were actually able to pull her away from wherever she hides and bring her here with all of us," Cody said laughing, causing Alex to blush.

"Well, that's going to change starting tonight," Mary nodded. The grin on her face faded as she looked over to Ted. "Coddles, can you um... take the girls out to the car? We'll join you in a minute."

Cody bit his lip, nodding. He knew exactly what was going on, and it was rough seeing his two best friends in such a state. "C'mon ladies, let's leave these two alone." He ushered AJ, Kaitlyn, and Alex out of the locker room.

Once the door closed behind her friends, Mary took a deep breath, walking over to Ted and took his hand. "OK, they're gone. Get it out."

Ted looked up at the woman he had loved all of his life with tears in his eyes. "Do you like her?"

Mary bit her lip, shaking her head. "Teddy Bear, it's not like that. I promise. You know how I get on camera. I have a flirtatious personality and it really shows in the ring."

"Then what about..." Ted sighed, looking down once more.

Mary took a deep breath, sitting on his lap. "Theodore Marvin DiBiase, Junior, I fucking love you. I'm sorry that I'm not just jumping into things with you, but you know that I have my reasons."

He nodded, kissing her softly. "That doesn't make it hurt any less."

Out in the hallway, Kaitlyn sighed. "I'm beginning to think that if Mary wasn't a single mom, we'd be getting fitted for our bridesmaids dresses by now."

Cody nodded, "it sucks. I know that they love each other, but that factor has really put a damper on things."

"I guess the bright side is that Ted isn't looking at other girls while Mary warms herself up to the thought?" Alex offered with a shrug.

"She'll come around eventually," Cody sighed, fighting the urge to take Alex's hand as he looked back to see Ted and Mary come out of the locker room. "Looks like I'll be alone in the room tonight," he chuckled.

"I gotta admit," AJ smirked, "it's a smart idea for you and Ted to get a room together, so there isn't a vacant room when they have their little sleepovers."

"It was her idea," Cody nodded as they continued to the parking garage to head out on their adventure for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

During the weeks leading up to the triple threat match for the Intercontinental championship, the WWE Universe was buzzing. Because of this, the match moved from SmackDown to the Extreme Rules pay-per-view. More people were talking about that match than the other triple threat steel cage match that would be happening that same night for the WWE Championship. What was the difference? This match involved two females. John Cena and The Miz could beat each other nearly to death, and Mary and Alex would still get more attention. Mary loved this. Alex, on the other hand, not so much. Sure, she wanted the title, but she wasn't nearly as extroverted as Mary was. Going into the match, Mary and Alex had gone undefeated in singles and tag competition, both only going against male competitors to prove their worth for the title they were about to vie for.

"Hey, at least you're finally getting attention, sweetie," Mary smiled at Alex as they were getting dressed after a Monday Night RAW super show. "We're both being recognized for our talents."

"Yeah, but this is insane. They moved our match to the pay-per-view. That's going to be two triple threat matches for a title in one night," Alex sighed, biting her lip as she played with her glasses.

Mary smirked, placing her hand on the younger girl's shoulder, "think of the bright side. We'll get to be backstage for the end of Lay-Cool. I know you've got to be happy for that."

Alex groaned, "can't we just get rid of both of them?"

Mary giggled, zipping up her bag. "One bimbo at a time, my dear."

"Was it like this for you in Japan?" Alex looked up at the older woman.

Mary shook her head with a smile, "all of the female wrestlers over there are on our level. The only reason I eventually made my back was because it never felt like it was home."

"So you didn't come back for Ted?" the young girl teased her new friend.

"I could have easily went to him any time after I came back. Instead, I started dating someone in FCW and fell in love with him. I have to admit, once I got called up and it actually dawned on me that Ted was here, the feelings that I had been harboring really hit me. You can't really ignore your feelings when it comes to someone that was your first everything," Mary smiled as they walked to the locker room door together and made their way out, only to be met by Ted and Cody.

"I think somebody's ears are burning," Alex grinned as she looked over to Ted and Mary, walking next to Cody with a blush.

"Or they just couldn't stand to be away from us any longer," Mary smirked as she ran her finger along Ted's ear.

"Were you just talking about us, darlin'?" Ted smirked as he snuck a kiss from Mary.

"Just you, baby. Somehow our conversation went from our bimbo co-workers to you," Mary shrugged.

"I see how it is," Ted laughed. "Does that include my on-screen ex-girlfriend?"

Mary raised an eyebrow, "I totally forgot that you finally ended that line."

"Yes, now I'm all alone. I don't even have the Million Dollar Championship anymore," Ted looked down with a fake pout.

"I see how I rate," Cody laughed, shaking his head.

"You know what I mean," Ted playfully nudged his best friend in the ribs.

"I'm beginning to think we should just step aside here, Alex," Mary teased, stepping away from Ted and bringing an arm around the younger girl. They turned around, walking backwards, facing the men they were walking with.

Cody stopped in the middle of the hall, blinking, "wait... what?"

Ted laughed, shaking his head, "I think someone has been spending too much time with your brother, Cody."

"He's a bad influence on her," Cody groaned as he started walking with his friends again.

"Oh please, Coddles. I've always been like this. Even as a teenager when Teddy Bear and I used to rock it out wherever we could," Mary wiggled her eyebrows, licking her lips.

Alex covered her ears, "I'm too young for this!"

"Oops, innocent ears," Mary laughed. "Sorry, hon."

…

A couple of days later, Mary walked into a gym to work out and get ready for the big match. There was a ring set up for the wrestlers to prepare for upcoming matches. Just as Mary walked up to the ring, she saw Justin Gabriel getting out of the ring after sparring with Wade. She grinned, making her way between the ropes to face Wade. "And to think, you and I have never faced one another in the ring."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Wade smirked, adjusting his elbow pad as they began to circle each other.

"You think so?" Mary licked her lips. "I can be rather unpredictable."

"Well, what should I be looking out for?" Wade nodded as they locked up in the center of the ring.

"I actually have a kickboxing background, and I love to use those skills in the ring. Also, the one thing you need to keep in mind is who my mentor is," Mary grinned, hip-tossing him onto the mat.

Wade groaned, rolling around a bit before starting to get up. "And that you're really good at that."

She nodded, "it's one of my top signature moves." She grinned as they locked up once more, "I'm quick, highly intelligent, drastically illogical, and a lot stronger than I look."

He picked her up, "side slam," he said before he dropped her down on the mat, going down with her into a sitting position next to her. "Goldust is your mentor, yeah?"

Mary did a kip up and hit him with a superkick. She smirked as she watched him falter a bit, "yup! He's been working with me since I was a teenager."

He nodded, grabbing her hand and flinging her into the ropes. "That would explain your behavior in the ring."

She grinned as she watched him bend over to do a back body drop as she bounced off of the ropes. Once she reached him, she dropped down to a sitting position and hit him with an uppercut. "I also adopted the back body drop counter from the Rhodes brothers," she smirked.

He rubbed his jaw, shaking his head. "And your finisher?"

"I have two, but I'm not sure that I can do the one that I adopted from Goldie on you, so I'd just use my own. I call it 'Best Regards'." She walked up behind him, bending him over backwards and locked his head under her arm in an inverted facelock. "I start out with a rolling cutter," she spun them around, but then stopped, "then I transition it." She moved so that they were now in position for a DDT, "rather than just ending it there like Cody does," she giggled. "Snap DDT," she tapped his back before jumping up and throwing herself down onto her back, taking him with her. She rolled over, sitting on the mat as she caught her breath. "To be honest, I throw in the rolling cutter to make it look more devastating."

Wade nodded as he slowly got up, shaking it off. "Blimey, woman!" he chuckled. "No wonder you're going after the men. Anything else I should know going into Sunday?"

Mary shrugged as she saw Ted walk up out of the corner of her eye, "expect the unexpected. I like to keep things fun." She took a deep breath as Ted leaned against the ropes, "and don't take my flirtatious behavior seriously. I'm sort of spoken for."

"Hey there, DiBiase," Wade finally stood up and helped Mary up as well. "Your girl here is really something else."

"I know she is," Ted smiled as he helped Mary out of the ring. "Think that you're ready to take her on?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Wade shrugged with a sigh, genuinely afraid that he would be losing the title to one of the women he would be facing.

…

The three way dance for the Intercontinental championship stole the show that night. There was no clear underdog, nor obvious potential winner any time during the match. Nearly five minutes in, Alex sat in one of the corners, catching her breath as Wade flung Mary into the ropes, expecting her to use the same exact back body drop counter on him that she had just a few days ago. He obviously forgot when she had warned him to expect the unexpected. She dropped down to the same sitting position, but instead of hitting him with an uppercut, she kissed his cheek. While he was clearly confused by her action, she lifted up her shirt, revealing a large belt buckle. She grinned as she thrust up her hips, the buckle connecting with his face. Seeing as how it was a triple threat match, this was perfectly legal. As the crowd laughed along with her, Mary rose to her feet, getting blindsided by a rejuvenated Alex, who hit her with a vicious clothesline, sending Mary over the top rope and out of the ring. This allowed Alex and Wade to go at it for a couple of minutes before Mary climbed back into the action. Seeing that Mary was still weakened, Alex took advantage, hitting her with a Twist of Fate. However, Alex slipped at the last moment, causing the girls to land wrong. Everything went black for Mary as she faintly heard Alex calling out her name.

…

When Mary came to, she heard monitors beeping around her. She slowly tried to sit up, "is the match over?" she asked weakly, not even knowing if anyone was in the room.

"Yeah, it is, babe," Ted said as he walked over to her, taking her hand.

She frowned, looking over to Ted. "How long was I out?"

"Two weeks, actually. Everyone has been really worried about you. I should get a doctor and call Cody. Everyone is at the arena for RAW by now," Ted kissed her forehead before walking to the door and calling out to the nearest nurse to let them know that Mary had woke up. He walked back over to her, taking her hand once more as he scrolled through his contacts, picking Cody's name and putting it on speaker phone.

"Who won?" she sighed, rubbing her thumb across the back of his hand.

"Neither wanted to continue, so Wade retained," he looked into her eyes lovingly.

She nodded, "I want another shot."

"Was that Mary?" Cody's voice was heard on the other end of Ted's phone.

Ted chuckled, "yup, my little fighter finally woke up."

"Hey everyone, Mary's awake!" Cody could be heard calling out to everyone who happened to be in the room with him, this was followed by an eruption of cheers and applause.

Mary giggled as the doctor came in, shining a pen light in her eyes. "Hey Coddles, did ya miss me?"

"Of course I did, Mare. I've been worried sick," Cody responded before his phone was taken away from him.

"Mary, I'm so sorry," Alex pleaded with her friend.

"Alex, honey, it's okay. These things happen. We can't be a hundred percent accurate all of the time," the older girl reassured her.

Once the doctor finished examining Mary, he looked up to her, "well since you weren't out very long, you won't need much physical therapy. I personally recommend that you refrain from competing for at least a few weeks. You did suffer from a concussion, but the effects have cleared up."

"But..." Mary frowned.

"Mare, listen to the doctor. He knows what he's talking about," Ted chuckled.

"Fine. Can I at least go to the shows next week?" Mary sighed.

The doctor nodded, "just be careful." He turned to Ted, "watch her?"

Ted nodded with a smile, "gladly."

…

Once Mary was medically cleared to compete again, she and Alex continued their rivalry. They had a lot of fun going back and forth in the ring, taking turns beating one another. Mary eventually won the championship at Capitol Punishment in June, keeping it for nearly a month. She actually lost it to Alex, who lost it to Ezekiel Jackson. The night that Cody got a chance at the same title, Alex and Mary sat backstage together, watching on a monitor with smiles on their faces. They were really into the match, not noticing how close to one another they were sitting. They got lost in the match, both enjoying Cody's work in the ring.

Mary gently brushed up against Alex's arm, gently grazing one of the younger girl's scars. She bit her lip, watching as Alex flinch and pull away. "Hey..." Mary took the other girl's hand, running her fingers along one of the lines on Alex's arm. "I happened to be watching that night," she smiled. "Did you forget that I handed Eve's ass to her the week after?"

"I honestly thought that was just a coincidence," Alex shrugged. "I thought all of the Divas hated her."

Mary sighed, "well, you're probably right about that, but I knew that she was behind all of that. I didn't know you, but... I wanted to."

"_You_?" Alex giggled, blushing as she looked away. "Maryanne Williams, daughter of the one and only Jeff Williams, wanted to know _me_?"

"Are you kidding? You are Alexis Hardy. Younger sister of The Hardy Boyz. Even without having two of the most awesome guys ever for brothers, I still wanted to get to know you. I just... I feel this connection with you," Mary smiled as she continued running her fingers along Alex's scars.

"And you're really okay with everything? My mental problems. What I did to myself. I'm just so awkward and gawky. I don't know why anyone would want to know me," Alex frowned as she watched Mary's fingers run along her arms with a chill going up her spine.

"Alex, look at me," she took a deep breath as the younger girl look up into her eyes. "You are beautiful, baby girl. I don't want you to let anyone to ever let you believe differently." Mary smiled as she laced her fingers with the younger girl. There had been an empty spot in Mary's life ever since she had moved away from home. She had formed a bond with her younger sister, and she remembered going through a similar situation with her.

"Thanks," Alex laid her head on the older girl's shoulder. "I guess that I'm not used to people being so nice to me outside of my family still."

"I thought that you said it wasn't like that," Ted stood in the doorway, an immense amount of pain in his voice. He looked to Mary with tear filled eyes, panting angrily.

Mary's eyes widened as she dropped Alex's hand, "no, Ted. It's not."

"Save it, Maryanne. Just... just forget everything," Ted spun around rushing back down the hall.

Mary ran her fingers through her dark brown locks, sighing. "Fuck, what do I do?"

Alex pushed the other girl up to her feet, "go to him. You can't lose him. I know what he means to you."

Mary nodded, quickly going into the direction that Ted had just gone into. "Ted!" she kept running as he attempted to lose her. "Ted, please! Just..." she reached him, grabbing his shoulder, "hear me out?"

"Just tell me the truth already! Tell me that the reason you and I aren't getting back together is because you want to be with her," Ted's voice began to crack.

She swallowed hard, finding a room to pull him into so that they wouldn't gain an audience. She took his hand, placing it over her heart. "My heart beats only for you, Teddy Bear. It always has."

He bit his lip, looking at their hands, "then what did I just see?"

Mary smiled softly, "do you remember what I miss most about being on the road after not being to be with Marcus all of the time?"

"Chelsea," he nodded slowly. "What does she have to do with this?"

"Only everything," she sighed, biting her lip.

"So what..." he tilted his head. "Alex is like your road Chelsea?"

"Yeah, baby. Alex has been here for like eight years, and she doesn't exactly have many friends. She was tortured for years. I was admiring her scars," she sighed, dropping his hand and looking down.

"Her scars? I thought that was just storyline BS," Ted blinked, swallowing visibly.

She shook her head, "no, she actually used to cut herself. Making friends with AJ and Kaitlyn finally gave her the strength to stop."

He wrapped his arms around her tightly, "I didn't know. God Mary, I'm sorry. I never meant to doubt you. It's just hard."

"I know it is," she said softly, leaning up to kiss him passionately.

…

Ten minutes after his match, Cody walked into the room where Alex was still sitting, ready to go. "Hey... where's Mary and Ted?"

Alex looked up, swallowing visibly, "hopefully making up."

Cody tilted his head in concern as he sat next to her. "Why? What happened?"

"Mary and I were having a bonding moment, and he happened to walk in at the exact wrong time," she bit her lip, pulling down her Laplander hat over her eyes.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," Cody sighed, reaching over to gently bring her hat back up. "You have such pretty eyes."

She squeaked at his words and actions, looking down as she blushed. "You're just saying that."

"Hey," he frowned, "I would never say something like that if I didn't mean it. Now I know that she's into girls, but she is pretty focused on eventually letting him back in."

"I am, too," she nodded, having no clue where this rush of confidence was coming from, but decided to go with it. "I just don't think of her like that. Sure, she's gorgeous. You'd have to be blind to not see that. It's just not like that between us."

Cody nodded with a smile, "she is, but she's always been like an older sister to me. So I know exactly where you're coming from."

Alex nodded, "biting her lip. I just hope that Ted sees that."


	4. Chapter 4

A week after the misunderstanding that happened over what Ted saw between Mary and Alex, and after having to deal with Alex telling Ted that she was sorry when she could, Mary and Ted managed to smooth things over. All the while, things seemed to be going smoothly for everyone. One day, while the others were all gone, Mary and Alex were by themselves in the locker room, talking about a plan that the two had brewing.

"Hey, Alex. I've come up with a good idea for a way to move our friendship onto TV," Mary's eyes lit up with a devious grin.

"And what's the idea you had in mind?" Alex eyed her friend, a little worried.

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could just be having a conversation backstage when it's time for my segment and then, when the interviewer sees us talking, we could pretty much just say that we've put our rivalry behind us and that now we're friends," Mary replied, smiling.

"That's a pretty good idea. When does your segment start?" Alex nodded.

"In a few minutes. Are you up for it?" Mary asked as she stood up, smoothing out her jean shorts.

"Sure. I keep thinking it's so weird that we have to keep running around as friends, even though most of the roster thinks that we're still foes. So I figure with this, it'll smooth out this whole deal for people," Alex nodded, standing as well.

"Awesome. So, I've gotta ask the question. What have your brothers thought about all of this that's been going on between us in the ring and backstage?" Mary smirked.

"For one thing, they have really thought it was awesome that I've actually made another girlfriend here. I mean, ever since Candice and a bunch of my other friends left due to a mix of being released or leaving on their own terms, they kinda started to notice that I was getting a little depressed. So they've actually been wanting a chance to get to meet you, especially after I told Jeff how much of a fan of his you are," Alex said, grinning.

"That's so cool of them. I'm just in wonder though. I mean, the fact that you actually made friends with other Divas before AJ and Kaitlyn signed is pretty cool. It's also pretty amazing that you made friends with some of the more, so to speak, feminine Divas that've been here," Mary licked her lips, trying to hide a blush from the mention of Jeff wanting to meet her.

Blushing at hearing this, Alex looked down and took a deep breath, "it wasn't entirely all me. Matt, Jeff, Adam, Jay, Amy, and Trish insisted that I try making friends with Divas, so one of them would always bring me along with them when they were walking around backstage just to introduce me to some of the other roster members, but weirdly enough, the only ones that would talk to me were a bunch of the Divas and some of the rarely used Superstars. I don't really know why."

"Maybe it was because of the fact that they admired you, even though you were years younger than they were," Mary shrugged.

"Could be. Which still gives me headaches when I try to wrap my head around why it is that Cody seems to see something in me," Alex sighed, looking down.

Sighing, Mary put a hand on Alex's shoulder, "sugar, I think the reason why it seems like you have the friends you have now is because of the fact that you don't have to be fake or phony just to get their approval or admiration or even their respect. Just being you is reason enough for even the most popular of our co-workers jealous."

"If you say so. It still feels weird after so many years to have made another friend and to have said new friend be so supportive of me," Alex responded with a frown.

"Darling in time, I'm sure that weird feeling you keep getting will fade away," Mary said. Looking down at her phone to check the time, she saw that it was nearly time for her segment to start. "It's almost time for our segment. We should be heading to get this over with."

"Haha, I guess we should. Wouldn't want our heads on a stick just because we were a few minutes late, now would we?" Alex said smiling as she and Mary headed off.

…

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am now being joined by two former Intercontinental champions, Mary Williams and Alex Hardy," Matt Striker said, as the two made their way to the interview spot. "So ladies, I'm just as curious as I know everyone else is, but is it true that since your feud for the Intercontinental Championship has ended you two have patched things up with each other?"

"Do you want to do the talking or should I?" Mary said, smiling down at Alex.

"The floor's all yours darling," Alex motioned to the older girl with a grin.

"Haha, of course it is. Well, Matt, we both felt that instead of going the route that so many of our fellow roster members have, we decided to patch things up and become friends," Mary nodded, bringing an arm around the other girl.

"After all, you can only be a pro wrestler for so long, so instead of fighting each other whenever we see each other over something as silly as a title belt, we decided to bury the hatchet," Alex continued.

"So, even after the accident at Extreme Rules that put you on the shelf for a few weeks, you're still going to forgive Alex?" Matt raised an eyebrow at Mary.

"Sure. I mean, accidents will happen and I can't hold something like that over Alex. After all, she was only doing her job. So you can't really blame her for what happened," Mary shrugged.

"That's a really good way to take it. Now, going back to the Intercontinental Championship, Alex lost it to Ezekiel Jackson and now he's looking for new contenders. Out of everyone on the roster that could go after it, who would you both be interested in seeing have that title?" Matt asked both of the girls.

After the two women shared a look, Alex took the cue to respond, "in all honesty Matt, it doesn't really matter to me or to Mary who wins it. Just so long as it's either my brother Jeff or Cody Rhodes."

"Interesting to know. Well, I want to thank you both for your time," Matt said, smiling.

"No problem. And just know you'll be able to find us if you ever want to interview us," Mary said smiling, ending the segment.

Once the cameraman recording the scene stopped recording and left, Matt turned back to the two girls, "that was really good work, you two. It's no wonder why it seems like most of the WWE Universe is abuzz with talk of you both."

"It's probably just because we've been after a belt that's never had female contenders for it," Mary smirked.

"Could be. Now, I'll be seeing you two around," Matt said, as he left and started to think over everything that's happened between the two.

Once Matt left them, Mary looked down at Alex, "interesting little bit you threw in about either Coddles or Jeff getting a shot at the Intercontinental Championship next."

"Well, it's just my way of trying to help out those that haven't gotten title shots in a while. And they were two of the first ones to pop into mind," Alex said, shrugging.

"I'm sure they'll appreciate it. It'd be interesting to see either one of them go up against Big Zeke, the brick house," Mary nodded.

"Yeah. Speaking of Cody, have you seen either him or Ted around? I know that I've apologized to Ted a lot for what he saw between us last week, but I just wanted to let him know why it was that he saw us like that," Alex bit her lip.

"Last I saw of Ted, he was walking around with Cody before their match. But you don't have to worry about apologizing to him. I talked things over with him and we made up in more ways than one," Mary said with a sly smile.

Confused, Alex cocked her head to the side, "more ways than one? What do you mean?"

Laughing at Alex's confusion, Mary smirked, "you'll find out what I mean when you're older. Just stay innocent and stay pure for now."

Looking even more confused, Alex just shook it off. Then she looked over Mary's shoulder, seeing two of the people she trusted more that most other people in the world. Running around Mary, Alex ran and started yelling "Matt! Jeff!"

Turning to see Alex running towards her brothers put a smile on Mary's face while she watched as Matt and Jeff talked about the segment she and Alex did together.

"Sis, I gotta admit I've never seen a better Divas promo than what you and Mary had together," Matt smiled, very proud of his baby sister.

"Yeah, especially throwing mine and Cody's names out there for consideration for runs with the Intercontinental title," Jeff winked with a grin.

"Just sticking my neck out there for my brother and one of my friends, is all," Alex smiled, blushing.

"Don't you mean to say your brother and your future husband?" Jeff asked playfully.

Looking up at Jeff, Alex blushed even deeper, "no! I meant what I said! And at any rate, Cody's just one of the few guys here that's actually genuinely nice to me. So, unlike you two like to think, there's nothing going on between us!"

"Whatever you say, little sister. We've just been so proud of you," Matt said, pulling Alex in for a hug.

Hearing Mary clear her throat behind them, Alex turned and saw Mary waving her hands, causing Alex to pull away from Matt and say "Oops! My bad, Mary! Matt, Jeff, this is my friend Mary Williams that you two have seen so much of and heard a lot about. Mary, these are my brothers, the Hardy Boyz, also known as Matt and Jeff."

"Nice to meet you both. It's a real honor if I can say so," Mary said, walking over to shake hands with the two elder Hardys.

"Nice to meet you too, Mary. It's awesome to finally get to meet the girl that's been such a help to our dear baby sister," Matt said, shaking Mary's hand.

"Same here on my side. You wouldn't believe how crazy Alex was going after Extreme Rules and she dropped you wrong while doing a Twist of Fate. The poor girl was crying her eyes out over what had happened," Jeff said, shaking Mary's hand as well.

Looking down to see Alex playing with the hem of her shirt, Mary sigh, nodding. "It's understandable. Like I've been telling people, the poor kid didn't mean for it to happen. It was all purely accidental."

"See, Lexi? Mary doesn't hold it against you," Matt nudged his sister.

"I know, but it still makes me feel a bit iffy inside when I think back to that night. Not to mention that I can't seem to really forget about it seeing as how the video's been circulating all over the internet since then," Alex pouted.

"But no one directly blames you for letting it happen. It just can't be helped that a mistake like that happened. And sweetheart, the most important thing here is that_ I_ don't blame you," Mary said, trying to calm Alex down.

"I know that much, but I hear about what it is that some of the other people around here say. They're actually spreading rumors around that I did it on purpose," Alex said, fighting back tears.

"Then pay no mind to them. They can't prove that what happened was supposed to happen or not," Mary told the younger girl, full of confidence.

"Well, I've tried, but it's really hard to, considering the fact that every time I walk past a group of people backstage, they always seem to shift their conversation to something about me and it really frustrates me," Alex sighed.

"Oh man. I think it's time we take Alex to our locker room. We'll see you around in a few after we help calm her down," Jeff said, as he and Matt took Alex to their shared locker room.

As Mary stood there trying to sort over everything that happened, she was caught in a hug from behind by AJ and Kaitlyn walking to join her. "Found you Mare!" AJ giggled.

"It's not like I was hiding anywhere babe," Mary said, wrapping her arms around AJ.

"Why do you look weirded out by something? Usually you only have that look on your face when you've just seen something you don't really seem to get," Kaitlyn tilted her head.

"I guess you could say I'm a bit confused by something. The whole time you both have been mentored by Alex, has she ever really had any kind of odd behavior? I mean in the sense, she just seems to flip out over the smallest of things or even getting upset just from hearing stuff people say about her," Mary asked, genuinely concerned.

Kaitlyn shared a look with AJ before turning to their older friend, "well, the only time we've ever seen her get like this was one day when she had gotten into an argument with Eve and Aksana. They just kept telling her that she had no business even wanting to be a female wrestler, so just when it seemed like Alex was gonna snap, me and Jeff happened to find them and get Alex out of there before she could try to kill them both. Ever since, she's been more closed off to mostly everyone on the roster that doesn't really rub her in a friendly way."

"I never knew that before. I guess this was just one of those things that I thought was an unsung rule of being here," Mary looked down with a frown.

...

While the three continued talking, Ted and Cody were sitting backstage waiting for their friends. "I wonder what's keeping them. They should be done with their matches and stuff by now," Ted looked around eagerly.

"Mary and the girls will be here soon. Speaking of Mary, it seemed a bit like she was on edge with you. Is there any particular reason why?" Cody asked his best friend.

Ted sighed, looking down, "remember the night when you came in here and it was just Alex?"

"Yeah, she said something about Mary running off to do damage control. What did she mean by that?" Cody raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I may have walked in to see Alex leaning on Mary while they had their hands linked together and I guess you could say that I took it the wrong way by thinking that Mary wanted to be with her instead of me," Ted looked down, ashamed of himself for his assumption.

"Really Ted? You jumped to a conclusion like that just from seeing them like that?" Cody asked incredulously.

"I couldn't help it. I mean, I've noticed the way that Mary looks at Alex sometimes. So I guess it was just my imagination running wild and me being a little paranoid," Ted sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Ted, for as long as we've known her, you should know that Mary's just got a flirty side. It was probably just nothing. I mean, after all, this is the first time that those two have ever met before so she couldn't help but want to check her out. So, the way I see things it's completely normal that they just wanted some time together," Cody attempted to reason with the other man.

"I guess. I just can't believe that the way I tried to make up with Mary freaked her out a little," Ted bit his lip, looking away.

"How'd you try to smooth things over with her?" Cody pried a little, trying to get Ted to fess up.

"Let's just say that I tried to have special time with her that went downhill really fast," Ted said, blushing.

After taking some time to let what Ted told him sink in, Cody nodded, "oh, I get what you mean. All I can say is that you just need to let her be herself and she'll be over whatever it was you two did together."

"I guess so. So, I've been meaning to ask, when are you going to make a move with Alex?" Ted asked, grinning evilly.

Blushing, Cody turned to look at Ted, "what? What are you talking about, Ted? Have you and Mary been doing drugs or something?"

"Cody, my dearest friend, everyone around here, myself included, have been painfully aware of the fact that you seem to have some feelings for the girl. Not to mention whenever she's got a match, you just drop everything and focus every ounce of your attention on watching her compete," Ted pointed out, letting his friend know just how busted he was.

"So what if I do like Alex? She probably doesn't feel the same way about me," Cody said, hanging his head.

"I don't exactly think that's the case considering the fact that whenever she's around you, she's always looking away and either fiddling with her glasses or messing with the strings on one of those hats she's always wearing," Ted pointed out, putting a hand on Cody's shoulder.

"And here I was thinking that you were mad at me for potentially having an interest in Alex. A week later, I'm walking in on you getting chummy with the guy who's like a brother to me," Mary said, standing in the doorway of the locker room Ted and Cody were sharing with her hands on her hips, grinning at the two.

"Mare, I know what you're thinking, but-" Ted started to say before getting cut off.

Mary placed a soft kiss on Ted's lips, "no need, Teddy Bear. I was only joking. No big deal."

"I swear, one day you and your cracks are going to be the death of me one day," Ted said, pulling his girlfriend in for a hug.

Mary returned the hug, "yup, and it will probably be while you're still riding high after a good night with me. So it won't be all bad."

Cody shook his head, "and you two are together... how?"

"We're... not," Mary swallowed visibly, slowly pulling away from Ted and slipped out of the room.

* * *

**Yeah, cliffhanger. ****We really hope that you are liking this! Please R&R to tell us what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

Ted sighed as he walked out of the locker room with Cody behind him. He walked up to AJ, Kaitlyn, Alex, Matt, and Jeff with a frown, Cody attempting to hide behind him. "Have you guys seen Mary in the past couple of minutes?"

"Losing your girl already?" AJ teased, but then caught sight of Cody. "Damn it, Cody! What did you say to her?"

Cody peeked out from behind Ted with an innocent look on his face, "what makes you think I did anything?"

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes, "you're hiding behind Ted, and you know how sensitive she is."

Cody sighed, stepping out to face Mary's friends. "I made a comment about how she and Ted can be polar opposites, and sometimes I can't understand how they're together."

Kaitlyn pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. "Cody, you know how she is about that. Even with Ted."

Matt and Jeff blinked, tilting their heads at the others. "What's going on?" Jeff asked, biting his lip.

"Mary is a single mother. It's given her a fear of commitment," Ted hung his head.

Matt nodded, "I guess we start looking for her, then. She seems really sweet, but I've heard stories about young single mothers."

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's fine," Jeff agreed as they split up and began looking for Mary.

…

Mary was sitting at a bar when a familiar face came up to her, she was on her third drink and already a little tipsy, but she was relieved to see this person join her. "Hi John," she said softly.

John Cena took in the look of his long time friend, that he cared for like a younger sister, and sighed. "Mary, you know that I'm all for a little drinking for fun, but you're obviously not having fun here."

Mary frowned, downing the rest of the drink and nodded. "I'm just having some issues."

"Would that be why you're not here with the twins or the girls?" He placed a hand on her shoulder, setting down his black credit card to pay for her drinks.

"I'm having trouble letting myself be with Ted because of Marcus," Mary sighed as another drink was set in front of her.

"You're son?" he bit his lip. "But Mary, you _know_ Ted. We all know that he is the type of guy who won't hurt you nor Marcus. I don't even know if I could say that much about myself."

Mary nodded as John pulled out his phone, responding to a text. "I _do_ know Ted. I've always loved him. Deep inside, I know that I still trust him enough to let this happen. I'm just scared."

…

Randy looked up at the group after receiving a reply from John and sighed, "well the good news is that Mary is with Cena. The bad news is that she's depressed and drunk."

"Did he say where?" Ted looked up with hope.

"Maybe you should just leave her alone for now," Randy shook his head. "And no, he didn't."

Ted nodded, "well thanks for your help."

Randy nodded, giving Ted a man hug before walking off.

"Do you trust her with Cena?" Jeff glanced over at Ted.

Ted sighed with a nod, "he's been like a big brother to her ever since they met in OVW. I know that he'll take care of her."

AJ smiled softly, "want Kait and I go to your room with you to wait on her, or are you going to stay with Cody?"

"I think it would be best if I'm there when he returns her," Ted nodded. "If she wanted me to be there, and I'm not, it would only upset her. This way, she can at least ask me to leave if she wants to be alone."

…

By September, Mary had beaten Dolph Ziggler in a number of non-title matches. This finally prompted Theodore Long to give Mary a title shot at Night of Champions. She watched from behind the curtain as Cody defended his title against Ted, which felt a little weird to her despite Ted's recent face turn. When her two favorite men, after her son of course, walked behind the curtain, she smiled. "That was a good effort, baby," she giggled as she hugged Ted tightly.

"Gee, that makes me feel better," Ted rolled his eyes as he returned the hug and kissed her.

"Oh c'mon. We all know that you two are evenly matched," she smirked, eyeing Cody. "For now, anyways. Cody may have a little more experience, but you are future world champion material. I can feel it." She grinned as she kissed Ted again, a bit more passionately this time.

They were cut off by Dolph Ziggler walking up. "Well, ain't that cute. We could always just film you two making out, and give me a break. I wouldn't mind."

Mary rolled her eyes as she pulled away from Ted, "cute Nicky. You do know that's a sign of fear, right? So if you want to back out, you still have time."

"Oh no, I've been waiting to finally beat you for months. Tell your boys to go shower together and let's get out there," Ziggler smirked as their video package ended.

Mary nodded, kissing Ted once more and kissing Cody's cheek. "I'll see you when I'm US Champ." She grinned as "I'm So Sick" began to play as she made her way onto the ramp to make her entrance. She climbed into the ring and leaned against the ropes and waited for Ziggler as "I Am Perfection" played. The first thirty second of the match consisted of them taunting each other before she rolled her eyes and threw him down with a hip toss. She could have made quick work of him, but if she was going to win this title, she really wanted to earn it. The match went on for nearly ten minutes, and Ziggler only got a couple of near falls against her. He never even got a chance to attempt a "Zig Zag" nor a sleeper hold to get the upper hand. In the end, Mary hit him with a "Best Regards" for the three count and title victory. She walked back to the locker room area after the match with her new title belt on her shoulder and knocked on the men's locker room door.

Wade opened the door and looked from Mary to the title with a grin. "Well, I've never seen the red, white, and blue on such a beautiful creature," he gave her a quick hug before looking inside. "Is everybody decent? We have a visitor." After receiving a chorus of yeses from the men inside, Wade stepped aside to let Mary in. "Hey Rhodes, DiBiase, hurry it up back there!" he called out toward the showers.

The other men in the room began applauding and cheering for Mary's victory as Cody walked out in a towel, "very funny, Stu. Wait, why is everyone..." he blinked, seeing Mary in the room with her new title. "You could have warned us."

Mary giggled, "but a naked Cody is the best possible victory gift I could get."

Ted walked into the room as Zack Ryder laughed, "someone wants a victory threeway."

"She probably does, but she knows me better than that," Ted smirked as he walked over to Mary, kissing her softly.

"I couldn't even get you to let another girl join us," Mary pouted playfully.

"Would you actually want to?" he grinned slipping an arm around her waist.

Mary shook her head, "I'm satisfied enough with just you. Speaking of," she took a deep breath, not caring who was around them, actually wanting the witnesses, "I think that I'm ready to be official."

Ted bit his lip, "how official, Mary? I mean, we've already been..."

Mary looked down for a moment, "yeah, we've been sleeping together for weeks, I know. I'm not ready to include Marcus into this yet, but I can give you everything else."

"I'll take it," Ted nodded, hugging her tightly as some of the guys cheered for them.

"Now go get dressed," Mary grinned as she pulled away from him. "I'll go shower and show this off for the girls." She slipped out of the room, getting hugs and handshakes from the other guys before going into the Divas locker room. She walked into the room, the title raised above her head. "The Champ is he- no wait... that's John's line," she giggled.

AJ and Alex ran over to the older girl, tackling her with hugs as some of the other girls applauded. AJ laughed as they all got back to their feet. "I'm sure John will allow you to borrow his line for this."

Alex looked to the older girl, "your match has been over for five like minutes."

Mary nodded with a shrug, "I went to visit the guys, first."

"Not just any of us would be allowed in the men's locker room," Kaitlyn laughed as she hugged Mary.

"I will admit, where I am treated like one of the guys, a couple of comments may have been made," Mary nodded with a shrug.

"See, now we're just curious," Nikki Bella chuckled.

"It involves Cody Rhodes in a towel and an inappropriate related comment from Zack Ryder," Mary shrugged, keeping an eye on Alex as she revealed part of what occurred in the men's locker room. "Sweetie, it was completely innocent. You know how I feel about him. I just joke around with the guys."

Alex nodded, pulling her Laplander hat over her eyes. "I just wish I could be as outgoing and confident as you."

"Um... Alex, where were you a little over a month ago when I got drunk after Cody said that he didn't know why Ted and I were together when I wasn't ready to make things official with him?" Mary sighed as she set down her title by her bag and got the stuff needed for a shower. "Which I actually have now, I'm just still a little hesitant about telling my son about us," Mary shrugged as she walked back to the showers.

Kaitlyn looked around to the other Divas in the room, "everyone else get out!" The other Divas nodded after seeing Alex curl up into a ball and began filing out of the room as Kaitlyn and AJ knelt in front of Alex. "Alex, look at us. Mary is in the shower, and all of the other girls are gone."

Alex slowly sat up, pulling her hat back up. "I'm sorry. I don't really know what came over me there."

AJ smiled, "Mary just saw Cody a step closer to naked than when he's in his trunks. I'm no expert at this stuff, but I think you are jealous."

"Yeah, sugar," Kaitlyn continued, "they've all known each other since they were like five. She probably saw him _actually_ naked before it even mattered."

"I kinda did," Mary shrugged as she walked back into the main locker room area in a towel. "But you know that a lot of us legacies have known each other since we were kids. We're like family. Seriously, Ted and myself are the only romance to come out of all of us."

"I guess that I really do like him," Alex squeaked out softly.

"And there's nothing wrong with that," Mary nodded with a grin. "How about a nice present to make you feel better?" She waited for the young girl to look up before opening her towel to flash the other girls, not hearing the warning knock before the door opened.

"Whoa, we should have waited," Jeff started to walk in, but turned around.

Mary laughed, shaking her head as she closed her towel once more. "No, you're safe guys. Come on in."

"If I know my _girlfriend_," Ted chuckled, "she's not actually naked under there."

"Crop top and boy shorts," Mary nodded with a smirk as she walked over to her bag to pull out her clothes to throw on.

Alex nodded, blushing. "Happy Bunny. It's been a while since I've seen her."

"You can still totally buy the merchandise online," Mary smiled as she walked back into the room, now fully dressed. "I take it one of the girls said something?" she walked over to Ted, slipping an arm around his waist.

Matt nodded, "but it looks like everything is fine now."

"Minor crisis adverted," Kaitlyn nodded.

Alex looked around the room at her friends, "I'm starting to get used to Mary. I don't always understand her innuendo, but I know she means well."

"You can totally blame my brother for that," Cody stated through a heavy lisp as he stepped closer to her.

Jeff and Matt laughed, having already been briefed on that part of Mary's past, as Jeff looked over to Mary. "And we all know how he is."

"I try to keep it as PG as possible around the kids," Mary motioned to Alex and AJ with a smirk.

"So shall we celebrate our newest United States Champion?" Ted grinned, kissing his girlfriend.

"Yes, I want to go dancing," Mary bounced up and down a little.

"Dancing really isn't my thing," Alex looked down, pulling her hat over her face again.

Cody sighed, walking over to Alex and sitting next to her, gently bringing her hat back up. "What did I tell you about that? You're too beautiful to hide your face."

Jeff and Matt smiled at each other as Mary zipped up her bag and turned to her friends. "It's not like we're going for So You Think You Can Dance. I just want to go out and have a little fun. I've been in the ring with you, little one. I know you can move it at least a little."

"If anything else, you and I can just find a quiet corner to chat while everyone else has their fun," Cody suggested.

"Okay, fine. I'll go," Alex sighed, standing up.

…

Mary held the United States Championship for three months, until losing it to Zack Ryder at TLC. After the match was over, Mary stood up with a sigh, shaking Zack's hand for a good match before heading out of the ring. For months, she stayed out of title contention, focusing on her relationship with Ted. When he went out with an injury in March, Mary asked to take a couple of weeks out to help him with his recovery after his surgery. It was during that time when she finally told Marcus about her relationship.

Mary sat on Ted's bed with her now three year-old son in her lap after making sure her boyfriend's foot was properly elevated. "Now, I know that I told you that Ted was mommy's friend before, but now we're a little more than that."

"Is he your boyfriend, mommy?" Marcus looked up at his mother.

Mary blinked, "how do you know about that stuff?"

"The other kids at school. My friend Tommy has a girlfriend," the toddler smiled.

"But you don't like girls, right buddy?" Ted chuckled as he took Mary's hand, lacing their fingers together.

Marcus scrunched up his nose, shaking his head. "Girls are icky!"

Mary frowned, "but I'm a girl."

"No you're not, you're mommy!" Marcus frowned, putting his hands on his hips.

"I'm still a girl. I'm sorry to break it to you," Mary laughed at her son.

"Okay, you're not icky. Just the girls in my class are icky," the young boy nodded. "Do you love my mommy, Ted?"

"Yes, I do," Ted nodded. "I love her very much."

"Good," Marcus nodded, "because if you didn't, I would just have Uncle Alex kick your-"

"Marcus Elijah!" Mary's eyes widened. "That's not very nice. Ted is a great guy. He makes me very happy."

"I won't hurt your mommy, buddy," Ted looked to the toddler as he squeezed Mary's hand. "I promise."

* * *

**I hope that everyone is liking this so far. Please let us know how we're doing with a little R&R!**


	6. Chapter 6

While Mary was taking time off to help Ted out with his injuries, Cody was left to travel alone from show to show. However, this situation was taken care of when Matt and Jeff offered to let him room with them until Mary and Ted came back. At first, Cody refused since he thought he would be taking up space, but after hearing Matt and Jeff reason with him that it was fine that he roomed with them, Cody agreed, much to Alex's shock. One night while the three men were in their hotel room, Matt and Jeff decided to have a talk with Cody.

"So Cody, me and Jeff have noticed that you're taking a liking to our younger sister," Matt stated matter-of-factly.

"And we've also noticed that Alex has an extreme crush on you," Jeff stated in the same tone.

Looking over at the two older men, Cody stammered a bit, swallowing visibly, "what? What are you two talking about?"

"You can't deny, Cody. It's painfully obvious to everyone in our group, as well to most of the roster, that you like her. We notice how you are with Alex, always pushing her hat off of her face so that you can see her eyes and there was that day where you said she's got a beautiful face," Matt said, smirking.

Blushing, Cody looked down and started to twirl his thumbs. "I guess you both could say that I do have some kind of feelings for her. And I know what you both are probably thinking, I'm one of the people that harasses her and has teased her about her cutting herself and her mental disorders. Well, I don't. I've actually admired her, as well as you guys, since I debuted here teaming with Hardcore Holly. And, believe me, I wanted to say something to Eve, Miz, and David for what they were planning on doing to her, but part of me kept saying to stay out of business that had nothing to do with me. So, now, I guess you could say after seeing her stand tall after all of that, not to mention that I totally love the fact that she's never been like the other Divas, is really starting to make me like her."

"That's actually something that Alex thinks is great about you, Cody. As you've probably noticed, she isn't exactly as popular here as she was when she was younger and a lot of our other friends were here, so just the fact that you're being so awesome and nice to her is making her like you a lot. Not to mention, she's always thought you were cute," Jeff said.

"Really? She's always thought I was cute?" Cody asked, his head shooting up.

"Oh, yeah. She would actually just stare at you during a match you had on TV and you wouldn't believe how many times she actually wanted to come get an autograph from you just because of the fact that you were doing so well in the weeks following your debut," Jeff said nodding.

"I never knew that. And, just to help my curiosity, is she really as big of a geek as she lets on when she's around Punk and AJ?" Cody asked.

Sharing a look, Matt and Jeff started laughing before Matt stopped to catch his breath.

"What happened? Did I say something funny?" Cody asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Yeah. Asking us if Alex is as big of a geek as she seems. I think if you really knew Alex away from here and when we're back home with our friends, you'd think that she was two different people entirely," Matt said.

"And if you'd like to have an example of her geekiness, Alex has three different types of sonic screwdrivers and about... four whole bookshelves full of normal books and varying types of comic books," Jeff said.

Hearing these things about Alex had Cody seeing her in a new way. He always had a feeling that her shyness was a bit much, so it was a bit of a comfort to hear that she wasn't always like that. Now he knew why it was that Mary wanted to help Alex open up. With brothers and friends like them surrounding her, he felt it was only a matter of time before she became more comfortable with being around them all.

...

A few weeks after Cody had his talk with Matt and Jeff, the group was backstage during a taping for SmackDown. This was the week that Ted and Mary were returning from the breaks they were on while Ted healed from his injuries. Even though he wasn't on the card for a match that night, Ted and Mary decided to sit backstage and watch the show.

"It's so great to have you back here, Mare. It seemed like things were way too quiet around here without you," AJ pouted, giving her friend puppy dog eyes.

"I missed being here too. But I couldn't just leave Teddy all alone to heal up," Mary nodded with a bright smile.

"We understand that. Quick question," AJ looked up, tilting her head.

"Sure. What's on your mind?" Mary blinked, sitting back.

"Did you know that Alex and Cody have a tag match together tonight?" AJ said, smiling.

"Really? I had no clue. When does it happen?" Mary asked, obviously curious.

"It happens after Kaitlyn's match against Alicia Fox. They're going up against Heath Slater and The Miz," AJ nodded with a devious glint in her eyes.

"This I will definitely have to see," Mary said, grinning evilly.

"I'll be right here with you," AJ said, grinning herself.

…

"I'm not really sure I want to go through with this match," Alex said, nervously.

"And why don't you?" Jeff asked.

"I'm teaming up with Cody, Jeff. Do you not know that things will be awkward for me?" Alex sighed, looking down.

"Things will only be as awkward as you make them. After all, you want the WWE Universe to know that you aren't as macho as they've come to know you," Jeff pointed out.

"I'd rather wear the stripper clothes most of the Divas wear before I act like a timid sheep out there," Alex frowned, crossing her arms.

Laughing at what Alex said, Jeff said "And that's the moxy everyone's come to know you for. Just show it out there and you'll do fine."

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind. I'd better be headed down to the ring now anyways. Kaitlyn's match has been over for a few minutes and I don't want my head to be on Vince's chopping block. Wish me luck," Alex said as she left.

"Good luck. And don't forget everything we just talked about," Jeff yelled after her.

The bell rang to start the tag match and Alex and Heath were the ones to start it off. The two locked up in the middle of the ring, with Alex throwing Heath to the ropes. When he came running back, Alex was set to do a back body drop, but Heath grabbed Alex by her hair and threw her back down on the mat. While Alex was down on the mat, Heath started to show off by playing air guitar. Heath wasn't paying attention, so Alex took that as her chance to catch her breath and get to her corner to tag Cody in. Cody walked up behind Heath and tapped him on the shoulder before punching him in the face. While Heath was caught off-guard by the punch, Cody threw him into a corner, ran towards him, and hit him with a corner clothesline. Cody then walked away only to go back and hit Heath with a flurry of kicks. Heath staggered out of his corner and dodged a clothesline to make the tag to Miz. Once Miz got in the ring, he and Cody locked up in the middle of the ring, with Miz fighting out and throwing Cody into the ropes. Miz got into position to a back body drop of his own, but Cody saw him and instead dropped down on his back and hit Miz with an uppercut. When Miz was caught off guard, Cody stood up and got him in position for Cross Rhodes when Heath got in the ring and tried to break Cody's hold on Miz. Seeing this, Alex jumped in the ring and threw Heath over the ropes. As soon as Heath got his bearings outside, Alex ran at him and did a suicide dive through the ropes and landed on top of him. Taking advantage of the confusion, Cody did Cross Rhodes on Miz and got the three-count pin. Rolling back into the ring to celebrate her win with Cody she high-fived him before heading backstage.

Once the two were backstage and away from the cameras, Alex let out a huge breath. "OK, that was crazy tense," Alex said, blushing.

"I wouldn't say that. I'd say we did pretty well together," Cody smiled.

"You were the star of the match. After all, you did the most out of the two of us," Alex shrugged, looking down.

"And I suppose you didn't do much when you did that suicide dive through the ropes," Cody said, smirking.

"Please. I could've done that in my sleep if I wanted to," Alex said, laughing.

"Are you really that much of a flyer that moves like that are simple for you to do?" Cody asked.

"You seem to be forgetting that with brothers like Matt and Jeff, I'm always seeing them taking chances and flying when they feel like it. Not to mention, you seem to be forgetting one of the main Divas from the past that helped train me," Alex said, grinning.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that Amy helped you train," Cody said.

"Well isn't this quite the cute sight to see," Mary said, causing Alex and Cody to look in her direction.

"Hey Mary. Didn't know you were coming back tonight," Alex said, hugging Mary.

"Well, Ted and I decided to make our returns tonight since he's now injury-free. We've actually got a mixed tag match against Maryse and Antonio Cesaro in a few," Mary said.

"Sounds like it'll be awesome to see," Cody said, hugging Mary as well.

"It'll definitely be fun," Mary said, smiling.

"Didn't you guys miss me?" Ted came up behind Mary, pouting playfully.

"It sure was a bit quiet around here without you two lovebirds," Cody said, smiling.

"Oh, come on Coddles. You couldn't have possibly been that bored here," Mary said, smirking.

"Yeah. You weren't that bored, were you?" Ted asked, smirking as well.

Blushing, Cody looked away and was about to say something until Alex piped up for him, "no he wasn't. He's been having a lot of bro time with Matt and Jeff. And, he's even managed to get me to stop wearing my hats all the time."

Ted whistled with a small laugh. "Have you, Cody? That's quite an impressive feat."

"I'd say it was. And trust me when I say that it definitely wasn't easy," Cody said, laughing.

"How were you able to get the deed done?" Mary asked.

"All I can say is that it involved me, AJ, Jeff, and some very personal threats," Cody said.

"Dare I ask what those threats were?" Ted asked while Mary cocked her head to the side.

"I pretty much said I'd help them take away her collections of comic books, action figures, and posters and that we'd force her to watch as we burn them. It was mean to say, but she agreed," Cody said, as Alex looked down and blushed.

"Well that's just not nice of you guys at all. I might just have to punish you for doing that," Mary said, smiling evilly.

"No need. We've patched things up. At any rate, I actually feel a little better about not wearing my hats around. I had to keep dealing with the strings getting caught in stuff, so this way, I get to keep my stuff and you guys get to see my face more," Alex said, smiling.

"And you shouldn't have to worry about hiding your face all the time. You're too pretty to always hide yourself," Cody said.

Mary watched as Alex looked away while she took hold of Cody's hand. "Ted, I think it's time for us to head down to the ring now. We'll try to get things done quick out there, so try not to miss us too much," Mary smirked with a wink.

"Good luck you guys," Alex said.

As soon as Mary and Ted were far enough away, Ted looked to his girlfriend. "That was a bit of an interesting development. I guess a lot happened while we were out."

"Oh, Teddy Bear, even you should've known that something was going to happen between those two sooner or later," Mary giggled, swinging their hands as they walked down the hall.

"I know. I just never would've thought they would be getting close so fast. I mean, I still don't really know Alex all that well, but I've noticed that she takes a while to open up to people," Ted said.

"It's just because of the fact that she's still just a kid. You know how kids are. They're usually really shy around people until they get the chance to open up and be themselves," Mary said, leaning on Ted.

"You were never like that. As a matter of fact, you were one of the most open people I've known," Ted said laughing.

"That's because you've always been in my life and you're used to me and my crazy ass," Mary said, grinning.

"I guess you could say I am. And honestly, I wouldn't have you any other way, Maryanne," Ted said, kissing Mary on the forehead. They stood at the gorilla position, getting ready for their match, huge smiles on their faces.


	7. Chapter 7

With the end of July came the end of FCW. There was still a wrestling school in Florida, but as far as rookie competition went, everyone was to be transferred to NXT. That is if they weren't hired elsewhere. It was announced that some of the Divas and lower mid-card Superstars would be competing with the rookies, and this was something that Mary had jumped at the chance for. Seeing that she was a former Intercontinental _and_ US champion, she was recruited to help the up and comers see what was laid out before them on the main roster. But really, Mary would jump at any chance to wrestle against men. It was what made her want to be in the WWE in the first place.

In the weeks following their return, Ted and Mary both weren't being used very much. They knew how it was. Take some time off, get thrown back to the back of the line. Neither had any problems earning their way back to a solid mid-card status. They just didn't expect to get it the way that they had. Noticing the in ring chemistry the couple had on SmackDown the previous week, the couple was approached by Stephanie McMahon and Triple H the next week at the 1000th episode of RAW as they made their way to the locker rooms hand in hand.

"Looks like they're more than just a good team, Paul," Stephanie grinned at her husband.

Hunter nodded as Ted and Mary turned to face the older couple, Ted slipping his arm around his girlfriend's waist. "I think we can use this, Steph," the Chief Operating Officer grinned.

"You think?" Mary smiled at her long time friend and her husband.

"Definitely," the older woman nodded. "You two make a very cute couple."

"Thanks," Ted nodded with a blush.

"I say you start tonight," Hunter nodded. "I know that Ted is just in the dark match, but if you join him at ringside, I'm sure that there will be mentions of the two of you together on Twitter."

"As long as you don't expect me to dress up like other valets do," Mary nodded.

Stephanie nodded, "I wouldn't expect any less from you, Mary. Just be yourself and I'm sure the WWE Universe will eat it right up."

Mary smirked with a nod as the older couple walked off. "This should be interesting after the matches we had with Goldie and Maryse."

Ted blinked, nodding, "I didn't even think of that."

"It was before your face turn, though," Mary shrugged and kissed him softly before slipping into the Divas locker room. She walked over to her friends with a huge grin on her face, setting her bag down.

"Geez, if I didn't know any better, I would think that you literally just got some right out there in the hallway," Natalya laughed.

"But we all know that Ted DiBiase is probably the last man in the world to go for such a thing," Kaitlyn nodded with a smirk.

"So out with it, Williams," Beth Phoenix nudged Mary, "what has you so happy?"

"Hunter and Steph just officially put Ted and I in a line. We start in his match tonight," Mary grinned as she opened her bag and pulled out her ring gear to change into.

"That's awesome, girl!" AJ giggled, hugging Mary tightly.

"Thanks," Mary giggled. "It's gonna be weird tonight. Not many matches. And you," she smirked at AJ, "a wedding. I am almost afraid to ask what is going to happen during that."

AJ made a motion across her closed mouth, indicating that she was zipping it closed.

Mary sighed, rolling her eyes as she pulled on her fishnet arm warmers and adjusted her brightly colored lacy tights. "Fine. I heard that there are a lot of cool people here tonight. I'm going to go fangirl." She walked over to the door, "see you ladies later." She walked out into the hallway and toward catering to see Mick Foley, she squeaked softly, clapping her hand over her mouth. "Sorry, hi. Big fan," she held her hand out. "Mary Williams, I think that you competed with my father..."

Mick shook her hand, "you're Jeff's little girl. I heard you were tearing it up here. You've been knocking down walls, and that's a good thing. Keep it up. I think that you'll definitely be remembered in years to come."

"Thanks Mick. That really means a lot coming from you," Mary smiled with a nod as she walked on to continue her journey. She made her way down to the Hardy siblings locker room, still beaming and knocked on the door.

Jeff answered the door, raising an eyebrow at his sister's friend. "Well, someone's perky tonight."

Mary nodded, bouncing excitedly. "Sorry, I'm totally fangirling tonight. I just met Mick Foley. I heard that The Rock is here tonight, too. I haven't seen him since I was like sixteen. He probably doesn't even remember me."

Lita looked up from where she was sitting with Alex, discussing music, "is she always this high strung backstage?"

Mary blinked, "oh my god, is that Amy?"

Jeff laughed, "yes, it is, and no... she's not." He opened the door a little more, stepping aside to let Mary in.

"Yeah, she's usually pretty chill," Alex blinked at her friend.

Mary giggled, walking over to Alex, giving her an over enthusiastic side hug. "Hey fake sissy!" She paused, taking a deep breath, attempting to compose herself, but failing miserably. "Nattie actually said that if she didn't know any better, she would have thought that I just got laid in the hallway before coming into the locker room. Maybe with a number of other guys around here, but not my Teddy Bear."

Matt looked up, clearing his throat, "Maryanne, sit down and breathe."

Mary blinked, sitting down next to Alex, not saying anything.

Alex laughed, "thanks Matty. You can tell that she lacks older brother type authority figures in her life."

Mary nodded with a shrug, "I'm older than my brother and Cena is the type of big brother who bought me drinks when I was eighteen."

"So now that you're back on Earth, hi," Lita laughed.

"Hi. Sorry Amy, I promise that I'm not always so chipper. I'm just happy that I get to have a line with my man," Mary smiled.

"I never pegged you for the type who would want to be a valet, Mary," Jeff smirked.

"Please," Mary snorted, "which one of us has actually held singles titles here?" She pointed to herself, "so if anything, I'm giving _him_ a push."

"You're just happy that you get to spend that much more time with him," Alex shook her head. "Which, from what Cody says, you don't need. He retreats down the hall to join us too much now."

"Oh like you're complaining that you get to spend more time with Coddles because of my healthy sex life," Mary stated in a sarcastic tone, rolling her eyes.

Lita laughed, "so I take it somebody is loud?"

"Yes," Mary smirked, "he is."

"Now this is my type of girl!" Lita high-fived Mary. "No offense, Lexi. You know I love ya."

Alex nodded with a blush, "I'm getting used to being extra awkward because of my lack of experience."

"There's got to be at least one innocent one in the group," Mary giggled as there was a knock on the door.

Jeff got up, answering the door once again, "at this rate, everyone is going to be here." He shook his head with a chuckle, letting Trish Stratus into the room.

Trish laughed as she walked into the room, "hey everyone." She tilted her head, pointing to Mary, "I know you."

Mary laughed, standing up, "yep! Hey Trish." She walked over, giving the other woman a quick hug. "I've got to get going, Ted's got the dark match tonight."

Lita got up, slapping Mary's butt, "be good out there, little girl."

Mary turned and winked at the girls, "no promises. I'll see everyone later." She smirked, walking out of the Hardy's locker room, in search of her boyfriend. She found him ten minutes later, grinning widely. "Hi baby."

Ted shook his head, kissing his girlfriend softly. "And where have you been, young lady?"

She smirked, "well, I went wandering. First I ran into Mick, then I hung out in the Hardy's locker room with Alex and Amy."

"Amy's here tonight?" he tilted his head as he took her hand, heading for the gorilla position.

"Yup," she nodded, "Trish, too."

"Oh, I bet you're in heaven," Ted chuckled, shaking his head.

"Of course I am," Mary nodded as they approached Ted's opponent, Michael McGuillicutty. "How can we not be with so many faces from our past running around here tonight?" She turned to McGuillicutty, "hey Joe."

"Well, if it isn't the couple we all knew would end up together," McGuillicutty shook his head with a smile.

Mary nodded as Ted blushed, "we even get to have a line together now. I just hope that Steph doesn't put some sort of weird angle on it."

"We've known her most of our lives," McGuillicutty shrugged. "She's bound to torture you two in some way."

Mary sighed, leaning against her boyfriend, "this is true. We'll get through it, though."

Ted nodded, kissing the side of Mary's head, "let's get this started." He grinned as his music started and walked out to the ring with Mary at his side.

…

After changing, Ted and Mary sat backstage with a number of the other Superstars and Divas, watching the show. Mary was giddy most of the night, sitting on her boyfriend's lap. When AJ came out for her wedding, she began pouting with a sigh.

"What's wrong, baby?" Ted rubbed her side.

"I don't get it. I know that all wrestling weddings are fake, but why don't they at least have wedding parties to make things a littler more realistic?" she laid her head on Ted's shoulder.

"Someone has a wedding bug biting her," Jeff teased from behind them.

"Maybe she just wants an excuse to wear a dress," Natalya laughed.

Mary pointed to her nose, then to Natalya. "I don't wear dresses often, but it's nice to girl it up every now and then."

"Does someone have gender confusion in her relationship?" Lita smirked.

"No, she's not with Cody," Kaitlyn snorted.

"Hey! I'm right here," Cody pouted from the other side of Ted.

"Awww, Coddles," Mary giggled, reaching over to pat his head. "We know that you're all man, sweetie."

"Is someone having a round of good natured ribbing without me," John Cena appeared in the doorway.

"Yes!" Mary turned to him with a grin. "Me saying that I like to dress up every once in a while lead to questioning Cody's gender."

John started to say something, then looked over to Alex, who was blushing and doing her best to hide away from everyone. "I really could say something here, but I'll refrain."

"Awww, you're being good tonight, bubba?" Mary laughed, throwing her legs over Cody's lap.

"It does happen sometimes," John laughed, nodding.

"You ready for your match tonight?" Matt looked up, changing the subject.

John nodded, "I really hope that I can beat Punk this time."

"I'm sure you can," Kaitlyn looked up with a smile.

"Thanks, gorgeous. I really hope that I don't disappoint anyone," John sighed.

Mary raised an eyebrow, "what happened to Superman?"

"I just don't think that it's my year," John shrugged, turning to leave the room.

"Well, either way, good luck!" Mary called out after him. "We're all rooting for you."

Ted took Mary's hand, kissing her fingers. "So how right was Jeff about that wedding bug?"

Mary shrugged, "I'm in no rush to get married, Teddy Bear. And I may as let you know right now, I'm _not_ wearing white when we do. I'm not about to lie," she smirked, causing everyone else in the room to laugh.

…

A month later there was a battle royale for the new number one contender to the Divas Championship. Both Mary and Alex were offered spots in the match, but both politely declined, and instead joined Layla at ringside to watch the match. As the girls tossed each other out one by one, Mary actually yawned, commenting that she wished that she was at the Royal Rumble, and actually participating in that. When the match ended, with Kaitlyn as the winner, Alex and Mary jumped to their feet, removing their headsets, and rushing over to the ring to slide under the bottom rope and congratulate their friend. As the trio of friends celebrated in the ring, Mary caught sight of the newest referee. Her jaw dropped as her eyes widened. She gave Kaitlyn a quick hug before, rolling out of the ring and running backstage and straight to AJ's office.

AJ looked up as someone barged into her office, about to act all important before seeing her friend with a worried look on her face. "Hey Mary, what's going on?"

"What is _he_ doing here?" Mary raked her fingers through her long brown locks as Alex and Kaitlyn appeared behind her.

"Who Mare?" Kaitlyn bit her lip.

"That new referee, Tyler... er, Brad Maddox, rather. Shouldn't he be on NXT or something?" Mary began pacing.

"You know him?" AJ raised an eyebrow.

Mary nodded a sigh, "you remember how Stephanie arranged for me to have a kayfabe baby daddy for a future storyline?"

"I should have known something was up when Stephanie arranged for me to recruit him as an official. It's not like he can't wrestle, or anything like that," AJ shook her head with a sigh.

"I... I should go talk to Ted. He has no idea, and he's probably wondering why I ran backstage like I did," Mary bit her lip, heading for the door.

"I'm really sorry, Mare," AJ bit her lip, sighing. "If anything comes up in storyline with him, you'll be the first to know."

* * *

**Dun, dun, duuuuuun! Haha, yes. We have reached our first obstacle of the story, but what role will Brad have in the story? Stay tuned to find out! Please R&R!**


	8. Chapter 8

Ever since Mary's moment where she spotted Brad Maddox in mid-August, everyone was making sure to keep an eye on the newest referee. Since Brad started calling matches, he seemed to be doing a good enough job, but that still didn't help deal with some of the weird vibes Mary seemed to keep getting from him. After a few weeks, nothing seemed to be off with him, so everyone decided to just drop their watch they were having over him. During that time, Ted and Mary's line together had started to develop more in the eyes of the WWE Universe, as well as their fellow roster members.

"I can't believe how much of a roll you both have been on. First you two mix things up as a duo, and now Ted is getting a shot at the United States Championship," Kaitlyn said one night during RAW.

"I had a feeling that things might have possibly taken a turn this way when Steph and Hunter saw us together at RAW 1000," Mary smiled, leaning into to her boyfriend.

"We all would've known that big things were in store for you two. We just had no idea that things would've been going so well," Jeff nodded at the couple.

"I just still can't believe that now RAW's being run by AJ. I never would've thought they would tap her to run the show," Ted chuckled, shaking his head.

"But Teddy Bear, when you look at how big of a roll that she's been on, it only seems smart to let her have a whirl at being in charge," Mary grinned, licking her lips.

"I think you're only saying that because you get to see her in power suits every week," Ted laughed, shaking his head.

"You know me so well," Mary giggled. "Plus, I think that there is a part of you that likes that I like it."

Ted blushed, kissing his girlfriend softly, "no comment."

The group had all gathered in the Hardys' shared locker room backstage and watching on one of the monitors as Alex had her match against Darren Young. Since Darren had his tag partner, Titus O'Neil, in his corner, Alex thought it was only fair to have one of the guys go down to the ring with her. After some time deliberating, she decided to let Matt go out with her, much to Cody's disappointment. While the others watched on, Mary nudged Ted and motioned for him to look over at Cody, who was moping as he watched the match. Walking over to sit next to one of his best friends, Ted threw an arm around Cody's shoulders.

"Why so glum there, chum?" Ted smirked.

"I'm not glum, I'm just a bit mopey," Cody said, pouting.

"And why are you mopey? Is this because Alex didn't pick you to go with her down to the ring for her match?" Ted asked in a slightly mocking tone.

"In a way, yes. I just don't really get why she wouldn't pick me. I was really starting to think that we were becoming friends," Cody said, sighing.

Overhearing the conversation between the two friends, Jeff walked over and sat down on the other side of Cody.  
"Is there something important you two are talking about that I might be able to help out with?" Jeff grinned.

"I guess you could say that. Cody's a bit upset because Alex didn't pick him to accompany her down to the ring and now he's thinking that it means that she doesn't want to be friends with him anymore," Ted nodded with a shrug.

"Ahh, I can see why he might feel that way. Cody, what makes you think that Alex doesn't want to be friends with you just because she didn't choose you to go with her to the ring for just one match?" Jeff looked to the younger man, tilting his head.

"I don't really think that, but it hurts a little that she wouldn't pick me. After all, I thought we were getting pretty close," Cody said, blushing slightly.

"She actually talked it over with me, and said that she wanted to pick you, but there's the whole issue that you guys haven't really done a segment to let the Universe know that you guys are friends now like the one she and Mary did last year. So she decided to just let Matt accompany her until you guys can eventually have a segment of your own to let the fans know that you guys have smoothed things over," Jeff pointed out with a smile.

Going over what Jeff had just told him, Cody face-palmed himself, shaking his head. "Of course! That's why she's been wanting to keep on-screen time between us to a minimum. I feel so stupid now."

"No need to feel like that over a little misunderstanding. After all, you two can fix this with a simple interview segment and then you guys will be free to accompany each other to matches, be in matches together, and maybe even have a romantic line together," Jeff said, as he and Ted grinned evilly.

Cody was about to open his mouth to say something in retaliation when the door to the locker room swung open and Matt and Alex walked in.

"Aww, tough break losing to Darren out there," Kaitlyn said, giving Alex a side hug.

"It's no big deal. There's always next time we have a match together that I could maybe get a win over him. After all, I did get a bit distracted out there a few times," Alex said, blushing and scratching the back of her head.

"That's the spirit, baby girl. Just get back up from a loss and move on to the next match," Mary said, giving Alex a side hug too.

"Thanks you guys. Now Mary, could you and Kaitlyn please let me out of this human sandwich we're making so that I can go shower?" Alex said.

"Sure. We'll be out here watching the action while we have to wait for our own and any segments we have to go out for," Mary said, as she and Kaitlyn let Alex go.

As she walked over to her bag and got out what she needed for her shower, she accidentally bumped into Cody while he was still talking to Jeff and Ted. Before Cody could say anything to her, Alex held up her hand to stop him. "Cody, before you say anything, I want to say sorry for any kind of misunderstanding there may have been earlier."

"No, it's my fault. I was overreacting that you wouldn't let me go to the ring with you, so I'm sorry for being a bit of a drama queen about it," Cody said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Before she could even think about saying else, Alex put her stuff down on one of the benches in the room and, after some hesitation, she wrapped her arms around Cody, pulling him in for a hug that seemed awkward between the two. Alex had completely taken Cody by surprise, so all he could do was look down at Alex while he noticed that she was blushing a little, while everyone else in the room was grinning at Cody.

"Well, it's about time one of you two decided to make a move," Mary said, grinning.

As soon as she heard Mary say that, Alex let go of Cody and hurried to get her stuff before she dashed into the showers, leaving Cody standing there flustered.

"Oh, Mare. Look what you've done, you've gone and startled the poor girl," Kaitlyn said, playfully chastising Mary.

"I didn't think she would run off when I said that," Mary said, shrugging defensively. "Do you think I should dash in there and apologize?"

"It's fine, Mary. You didn't do anything wrong," Matt said, reassuringly.

"Are you sure Matt? She looked pretty scared from the way she dashed away," Mary said, licking her lips, trying to hide an ulterior motive.

"Well, she's never really hugged any other guys aside from me, Jeff, our dad, and our friends back home and some of our other friends here, so it's a bit of a step up for her to hug another guy. Especially since that guy happens to be someone she really likes," Matt explained.

Knowing what Mary really had on her mind, Ted wrapped an arm around her shoulders before she could say anything else, "Matt's more than likely right, Mare. I mean, you may not even remember exactly right, but you were a bit like Alex when you were first dating me."

"That's only because I was nervous as all get out when we first started going out. Plus, I was all teenage and vir-" Mary stopped herself, smirking.

Laughing, Ted shook his head. "And as if you have forgotten, so was I. We probably wouldn't be together right now had we not changed that around."

"And just know that I don't plan on doing any 180s any time soon," Mary said, grinning.

While everyone was standing around talking, Cody had slipped out of the locker room and started to walk towards the gorilla position for his match against Rey Mysterio. As he made his way there, he tried to shake the warm feeling that was flowing through him after getting caught off-guard by Alex hugging him. He wasn't very successful with that, so when he got to the gorilla, Rey saw him and got a little worried.

"Hey Cody. You feeling okay there? You look a little queasy," Rey tilted his head, examining the body language of the younger man.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. It's just butterflies," Cody mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"If you're feeling that way, you should probably sit this match out," Rey gave him a knowing smirk.

"I'm fine. I just want to try to get this match done as fast as we can," Cody said, a touch anxiously.

…

After Alex finished up her shower and got dressed, she stepped out into the locker room and saw Mary and the others minus Cody watching the next segment on the show. Looking around, Alex frowned, "where's Cody?"

"He left for his match against Rey Mysterio, but he hasn't come back yet. Which is weird, considering that his match has been over for about five minutes now," Kaitlyn while thinking it over, not even realizing Cody had been gone that long.

"You don't think I scared him off, do you?" Alex asked nervously.

"I wouldn't say that. He probably just ran into someone in the hall and stopped to chat. Why would you think you scared off Coddles?" Mary looked over to her friend with a sympathetic pout.

"He looked a little weird when I hugged him. I mean, I was just trying to show him that I wanted to apologize. So I figured I'd give him an apology the same way I do with Matt, Jeff, our dad, and all of our other friends, which is why I hugged him," Alex said, twirling her thumbs.

"He was just caught a little off guard by it. After all, it isn't every day that he gets hugged by girls that he likes," Mary grinned, leaning into Ted. "He's been awkward his whole life, so we're used to seeing him do things like this."

"I just hope he won't seem too freaked that he won't want to be around me anymore," Alex said, blushing.

Before anyone got a chance to respond, the door to the Hardys' locker room swung open as Cody came inside. Alex's head shot up and once she saw Cody, she started to fidget a little and moved to sit between Matt and Jeff.

Sighing, Cody walked to stand in front of Alex. "Alex, why does it look like you're trying to hide from me?" Cody crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm not hiding, I just wanted to sit between my brothers," Alex squeaked out, looking down.

"You didn't move until I came back into the room though. If you think you did something wrong while ago, you don't have to worry about that," Cody said, reassuringly.

"Are you sure? Because you looked a little freaked out," Alex stood up, biting her lip.

"Well, I'll admit I was, but not in the way you might be thinking. It's more that I wasn't expecting you to just hug me out of no where like that," Cody stated nervously as he looked at the ground.

"I was just trying to show you that there were no hard feelings because of the fact that I didn't pick you to go with me down to the ring, that's all," Alex said, blushing.

"And I know now that you were just trying to keep things in kayfabe between us," Cody said, blushing as well.

"To be fair, it could have easily been me," Mary spoke up with a shrug, "I just most likely would have been the one attacking Titus, just because I thought it might be fun."

Ted kissed his girlfriend's neck softly as it looked as though her statement had fallen on deaf ears. "You know, you and Alex would make an awesome tag team."

Watching the scene take place between the two and seeing how close they were together, and realizing that they had forgotten that anyone else in the room, Matt and Jeff "accidentally" pushed Alex into Cody, causing Cody to catch her before she fell on the floor. Once Alex realized that she was in Cody's arms and that she was only in that situation because of her brothers, she turned around to say something but then saw that they had ran out of the room. "Umm, this may sound dumb of me to ask, but did you see where it was my crazy older brothers ran off to?" Alex asked, blushing.

"They ran out of the room, but I think it may a bit of an impossibility of finding them," Mary said, trying to hide her laughter.

"I'll find them. They can't hide from me all night, plus they left all of their stuff in here," Alex said with a determined look on her face. "Now, Cody, would you kindly mind letting me go so that I may try to go find my dear big brothers?"

Laughing at what Alex just asked him, Cody let her go and watched as she walked out of the locker room, digging around in her pockets and pulling out what looked like a bag of Skittles.

Once she was out of the locker room, Mary turned to look at Kaitlyn with a questioning look on her face. "Um, Kait. Was that a bag of Skittles Alex just pulled out of her pocket?" Mary asked, confused.

"Yeah, it was. Why do you ask?" Kaitlyn said, smiling.

"What exactly is she going to do with a bag of Skittles?" Mary blinked a few times.

"Well, Alex will more than likely use them to try to lure Jeff out of hiding. After all, it's a well-known fact that Jeff has a huge weakness for Skittles," Kaitlyn stated with a shrug.

Turning to look at Ted, Mary asked, "Teddy, is this true?"

"It's definitely true from what I've seen. He's always either munching on some or he's asking around for Skittles from the other roster members, so yes it is," Ted nodded.

"That's a bit weird, don't you think?" Mary asked.

"This coming from the one with Happy Bunny on her clothing," Ted said, smirking.

"So I like that little bunny. Nothing wrong with that," Mary said, poking Ted in the ribs.

"Sure there isn't, Mare. Sure there isn't," Ted said, grinning at his girlfriend.


	9. Chapter 9

A couple of months had gone by, and Mary had finally let up on her paranoia on Brad's presence in the WWE. He had become the joke of the main roster, though not officially being on it himself, and was appearing to be a comic relief jobber. Maybe Stephanie had forgotten her idea of using him as the storyline father of Marcus for a future line. It was the night after Survivor Series, and everyone was just having all sorts of fun. No one was thinking much of the three men from NXT that had attacked Ryback the night before. RAW would be starting in a few hours and the sounds of playful squeals and giggles filled the halls of the arena. Most of the performers were getting ready for the show, so the sounds of children playing resonated through the halls. Not knowing that anyone had brought their kids to the show that night, Cody walked into catering, an eyebrow raised. "Um... did someone bring their kid to the show?"

Jeff looked up, nodding with a laugh. "I believe that Alanna Orton, Brock Hennig, and Otunga Junior are here. The girls are playing with them."

Just as Cody was about to respond, a small, blonde girl dashed into the room, ducking under a chair next to him. He chuckled softly, kneeling beside her. "Hey sweetie, are we playing hide and seek?"

Alanna nodded, bringing a finger to her lips to shush him. "Alex is 'it' right now. You didn't see me," she whispered.

Cody nodded, patting his friend's daughter's head before standing back up. "And this is why I wish they could all just bring their kids on the road with us full time."

Jeff smirked, tilting his head at his baby sister's object of affection. "You like kids?"

"I love 'em," Cody sighed softly with a shrug. "I'm a just little disappointed that they didn't ask me to play with them. I'm sure a few of the other guys may want join in, as well."

"You're an Uncle, right," Matt inquired, stepping up to join the conversation.

Cody blushed, realizing where this was going. "I was nine when Dustin's daughter, Dakota, was born. My sister Kristin also has a couple of kids. Before you even ask, I'd love to have a couple of my own some day, but I'm in no rush."

"Good," Jeff smirked. "Because as you can obviously tell, Lexi is still very much a kid herself."

"So is Mary, but I know that it is in massively different ways. She can lay down the law with Marcus, all while having fun. Right now, Alex reminds me of Mary when she was younger. Probably around the time she and Ted shared their first kiss. I do like her a lot, but just like when it comes to having children, I am in absolutely no rush to start a relationship," Cody nodded just before Alex appeared in the room.

"Anyone hiding in here?" Alex whispered loudly.

Cody glanced down at Alanna, who quickly shook her head with pleading eyes. He smiled, looking up to Alex with a shrug. "Nope. No one in here." He winked at Alanna before walking over to the door. "And why didn't you invite me to play?"

Alex blushed, looking down. "You would want to play hide and seek around the arena?"

He smirked, bringing an arm around her shoulders. "Are you kidding? I'd be up for such games even if no ones kids were around."

"We'll have to keep that in mind," she grinned, blushing even more as they walked out into the hall together. "Was one of the kids in there?" she whispered.

Cody nodded, "Alanna is under a chair right where I was standing by your brothers."

Alex nodded, kissing his cheek. "You haven't seen Mary, by any chance, have you? She is really good at this."

"Well, if it were some of the adults, I'd say that she just gave up and found something else to do in an area that you established as out of bounds. However, with Mary," he paused, rubbing his chin, "she always was a damn good hider."

"You've played this with her before?" Alex raised an eyebrow as they heard giggling in the distance. She looked up to Cody, mouthing "AJ" and pointing to where she believed her friend may be hiding.

Cody nodded with a smirk, "oh yeah. I met her when I was about five. The events were kinda boring while our fathers were all working. So we all played together for hours. That's why we're all so close now."

Alex nodded as she went to sneak up on AJ. She jumped behind the equipment box where AJ happened to be crouching and tackled her. "Gotcha!" she laughed before getting up. She helped AJ to her feet and looked over to Cody, who was grinning, shaking his head. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a baby viper to catch," she winked, turning to head back toward catering. "Hey Codes, if you wanna join us next round, don't go too far."

Cody nodded, "I'll be around." As he watched Alex walked away, trying to inconspicuously check out her butt, AJ jumped beside him, poking him in the ribs. He gasped, jumping back, "so not funny, AJ."

"I thought it was," AJ shrugged. "Don't worry, there isn't many people in the halls right now, so I was the only one who just saw that."

"Saw what?" Cody blushed, looking down.

"Oh c'mon, Rhodes," AJ sighed. "It's been like a year since we got you two to admit that you like each other. Are you trying to beat Ted and Mary's record, or something?"

Cody sighed softly, looking down. "Until she's ready for something like that, it's not going to happen. I mean, I hope that it's not going to take four years, but at this rate, it really could."

…

After months of always ending up in there, the locker room shared by the Hardy siblings was now also shared by AJ, Kaitlyn, Mary, Ted, and Cody. The new members of the group were all significantly younger than Matt and Jeff, but they were happy that Alex had finally made a few new friends. The show had already begun and AJ, Kaitlyn, and the four men in the room stood back in awe as Mary and Alex went back and forth, attempting to coordinate their outfits for their tag match that night against the Prime Time Players. They had been in plenty of tag matches where they went against a tandem of males in the past, but this would be the first time they were teaming up with each other. They had done a lot of training together over the past year and a half, but it was always different than being in an official match. Ever since Darren Young had beaten Alex in singles competition, both him and his partner, Titus O'Neal, had constantly degraded both Alex and Mary for wrestling against men. Two weeks before, they finally made Mary reach her breaking point. During their normal taunting on "Backstage Fallout" Mary lunged at Titus, beating him down until Ted pulled his girlfriend off of the much larger man. Initially, PTP had challenged Ted and Mary to a match, but Mary insisted that she teamed up with Alex for the match, with Ted at ringside. Ted did feel slightly dejected that his girlfriend didn't want to team with him, but he was closing in on his very first singles title hunt, so he couldn't dwell on the thought for very long.

Finally satisfied with their choices, Mary tied and buckled her combat style boots and looked up to their friends. "My, didn't realize we had an audience."

Ted chuckled, shaking his head. "Babe, in the over twenty years I've known you, that's probably the girliest thing you've ever done."

"Yeah, I guess that time that I beat up both Cody and Joe didn't really help matters," Mary shrugged with a smirk.

"You were seven, Mare Bear," Ted smirked as Cody blushed, looking away.

"They tried to look up my dress. What was I supposed to do?" she walked over to her boyfriend, kissing him softly.

"Good point," Ted nodded, returning the kiss.

"I have apologized for that, right?" Cody finally looked up.

Mary nodded with a smile, "then I pantsed you both the next summer to get you back for it."

Ted grinned, proud of his girlfriend, "this is why none of the other legacies mess with her. We have all known exactly what she's capable of since we were kids."

"I have noticed that only non-legacies challenge her," Jeff chuckled.

"Well, to be fair, there are a few legacies that could easily take me," Mary shrugged, "but they know that I can play dirty with the best of them."

"That would explain why you haven't faced Orton," AJ giggled.

"He doesn't trust me, and rightfully so," Mary smirked. "Alright, I'm ready. Is it time for us to go yet?" Just as the sentence escaped her lips, there was a knock on the door and a stagehand peeked in, telling Mary and Alex that it was time for their match.

After the duo, along with Ted, had left the room, Kaitlyn looked over to Cody, who had his head hung in a corner, his face bright red. "Now when I joked about her seeing you naked before it even counted, I didn't actually think it was true."

Cody finally looked up, nodding. "I wanna say that I was like six or seven at the time. I won't deny it, it was very well deserved."

"Did you make a habit of such things?" Jeff looked over to his young friend. "I mean, you have sisters."

Cody sighed, "so does Joe. I guess that there was always this curiosity when it came to other girls. Out of all of the girls that we hung out with every summer, she was the only one who willingly hung out with us. That just made her seem the most accessible to us."

Kaitlyn punched him in the arm playfully, "well as long as you learned your lesson."

Cody rubbed his arm, nodding. "Oh yes. I have never crossed any line with a girl ever since then. I'm fairly sure that he hasn't, either."

They continued talking for a good fifteen minutes until Mary walked in with a smirk on her face. They had been semi paying attention to the match, and needless to say, they sort of expected the results. Ten minutes into the match, Mary let her emotions get to her and she went off on Titus until she was ultimately disqualified, thus losing the match for her team. After some playful ragging from her friends, she went to shower off and change into her street clothes to watch the rest of the show. There was something in the air around the locker room area, but no one could quite put their finger on it. Not wanting to get worked up over nothing, they decided to ignore the feeling until something actually happened.

…

Mary was happy to finally be back in Florida as she made her way into the Full Sail arena later in that week for NXT with her two favorite men on either side of her. Despite Ted's protesting, Mary opened the door to the men's locker room without him going in first. Thankfully, there was only guy in there, and he was fully dressed. She looked to Jesse White, who went by Jake Carter in the ring, and smiled. "Well hey there, gorgeous. Long time, no see."

Jake looked up, shaking his head, "hey Mary. I see you're not alone this time. Hold on," he held up his finger before turning to look toward the shower and dressing area, "Mary's here guys." He then turned back to Mary, standing up and hugging her before shaking Ted's hand. He looked down at Marcus with a grin, "you must be Marcus."

Marcus nodded with a grin, "how do you know my mommy?"

"Same way she met Ted. My dad is Vader," Jake nodded with a grin.

The toddler tilted his head, blinking. "You mean the big guy with the funny mask that's not Kane?"

Jake couldn't help at the description of his father and nodded, "yup, that would be him, little man." He looked up at Mary, "I heard that I'm facing someone from the main roster. So does this mean what I think it does?"

Mary nodded, "you can back out if you want. I'd totally understand. I'll just run over to Dusty's office and tell him to find me a new opponent."

Jake chuckled, shaking his head. "Nah, I was just expecting McGuillicutty, or something."

"Good point," Mary shrugged. "You got me, though."

Just then, Taylor Rotunda, known as Bo Dallas, walked into the room. "There's my fave big sister." He walked over to Mary, hugging her tightly.

"Hey kiddo," Mary smiled as she returned the hug. "Are you working tonight?"

Bo shook his head as he bro hugged Ted. "I'm just hanging out tonight."

"Well I'm facing baby Vader and Teddy Bear is gonna be my valet," she turned to Ted for a moment, sticking her tongue out at him. "Do you think you can watch Marcus during the match?"

Bo nodded with a grin, "yeah of course, no problem."

Marcus eyes lit up, "I get to play with Bo while you wrestle?"

Mary laughed, nodding. "I had a feeling you might like that."

Mary's match with Jake was a huge relief compared to what she had been dealing with on the main shows over the past few months. Both were fan favorites, so there was no dirty play during the match. This was a relief to Ted more than anyone else. There had been a couple of times where her opponents on RAW tried groping her during the match, and where Mary could easily diffuse the situation, that didn't make Ted feel any better. At the same time, this got Ted more matches. He would always challenge the perv later on in the week. He still got his 'Knight in Shining Armor' complex fulfilled, all while Mary stood up for herself. Being that Jake was one of the smaller male wrestlers, Mary had no problem throwing him around like she had with the Divas. She had actually helped train him a bit when he was younger, so they were very comfortable with one another by that time. Just as she was about to lift him for a "Final Cut", Jake turned things around and hit Mary with a reverse atomic drop. Feeling that she had won enough matches lately, she let him have the win. After his hand was raised, he hugged Mary and helped her out of the ring.

After they were backstage and heading for the locker room Jake sighed, "I hurt you."

"I'm fine," Mary insisted, breaking away from the men and headed for the Divas locker room.

Jake turned to Ted, who sighed. "I think he's her tailbone. She's hurt it before. She didn't seem to be in serious pain, so I'm sure you didn't do anything that any one else could have done."

"I hope that's it. I would hate to hurt anyone, least of all her," Jake sighed, heading to the men's locker room.

Just as Ted suspected, Mary had tweaked an old injury. Thankfully, there was no serious damage done, but she was told that it would be best to take a week off. She didn't really mind much, so long as she got to go to the shows. This way, she'd be able to kick her observant skills into action and see if anything was going on behind the scenes that was potentially damaging to anyone around her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Many apologies from both of us! We both spent most of February with writer's block, and we're just now getting back into the swing of things. We're getting very close to the main plot, so tell your friends!**

* * *

The episode of RAW for the next week had not started filming yet, so most of the roster was backstage hanging around and waiting for the show to start. As usual, the group of the Hardy siblings, Mary, Ted, Cody, AJ, and Kaitlyn was all gathered in the Hardys' locker room while they waited for the show to start. News had reached them that Mary would have to take a week off since the injury of hers got tweaked again.

"At least it wasn't something too serious. By this time next week, you'll be back in the ring," AJ frowned sympathetically at her friend, patting the older woman's shoulder.

"I know, but this week is going to feel like it's dragging on forever. First, I get to sit through RAW, and then there's SmackDown tapings tomorrow. The only good thing is that I'll have you guys here to help pass the time," Mary pouted, leaning back against the wall.

"Would it be a bad thing if I mentioned that tonight you get the pleasure of seeing Alex and Cody together in action again tonight?" AJ smirking, knowing what her friend's reaction would be.

Sitting up quickly, Mary looked over to AJ, her pale blue eyes lit up brightly, "and when, may I ask, did this match come to be? This is the first I'm hearing of it."

"Really? I thought you would've at least heard something about it from Ted. Trips got in touch with Alex and Cody and let them know that they were having a mixed tag match with each other tonight. I'm not really sure if he knows that they're together, but he said that they're in action against Alicia and Justin tonight. Oh, and they also have to do a segment with each other," AJ explained.

"I'd say that it makes me upset that I'm the last one to know, but I'm okay with this. At least now this is going to be the thing to get rid of the whole 'Cody and Alex are rivals' thing that seems to happen with them a lot. Now I don't feel so bad about being sidelined," Mary grinned widely, clapping enthusiastically.

AJ laughed, nodding, "figures it'd take something like seeing those two together on-screen to take your mind off of not being able to compete."

Mary shrugged, "what can I say? I'm a sucker for cute stuff."

Hearing the two talk about the coming match, Matt, Jeff, and Ted made their way into the locker room just in time to hear Mary finish her sentence.

"So when you say that you're a sucker for cute stuff, do I fall into that area?" Ted laughed.

"Do I even need to answer that question, Teddy Bear?" Mary said, smirking.

"I suppose not. You two haven't been too terribly bored while we were gone, were you?" Ted took a seat beside Mary.

"Not really. AJ's just been doing her job as a good friend and telling me about Codes and Alex's match tonight. Which, by the way, I must thank you for telling me about," Mary playfully shoved Ted.

"I figured it'd be funny for you to see everything unfold between those two as the rest of the world will. After all, if I did tell you, you might've found some way to tease him about it," Ted pointed out matter-of-factly.

"I so would not have," Mary gasped with a playful pout. "At the very least, I would've been good and waited to see how those two were going to have things play out. Speaking of, where are those two?" she looked around with a pout.

"We got caught by one of the stage hands saying that it was almost time for their segment to start, so we left them where they had to have it recorded. And, I have to say this, they both looked more than ready to get it done," Jeff stated plainly with a shrug.

"You mean to tell me that the two awkward ones were ready to do a segment together? That's so great to hear," Mary giggled.

"Now all we have to do is sit back and watch things unfurl," Matt said as he and Jeff sat down.

…

"So, no hard feelings about all of the times that I've beaten you in matches, right?" Alex looked up to the object of her affection with innocent eyes.

"Of course not. No point in trying to let stuff in the past mess up our focus for tonight," Cody nodded with his cocky grin.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Alex nodded, "that's a relief. Now, all we have to do is see if our newly formed trust in each other will carry us through our match."

"It will. Just don't try to pull any tricks out there and things will be fine," Cody smiled at her.

"I'll do my best not to," Alex grinned evilly, ending the recording of their segment. "I'd say that went pretty well. We didn't mess up or forget anything."

"Alex, we've been doing this for the better part of a few years. It's a bit safe to say that we don't really have to worry about making that many mistakes," Cody smiled warmly, bringing an arm around her shoulders.

"Still, we're all only human, Codes. It's only natural that we have a few slip-ups sometimes. I know for a fact that it tends to happen with Jeff a lot," Alex shrugged, blushing.

"And I guess I could say that Dustin's had his fair share of minor slips, but it's nothing that ever really got to him," Cody nodded with a smile.

"See? I told that it happens with everyone. Even a lot of the greats have had off days once in a while," Alex stated with a bit of panic still in her voice.

The two went back and forth like this for a few more minutes until it was time for them to make their way to the gorilla position. When they made it there, they already found Justin and Alicia waiting to make their entrances.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the WWE's latest happy couple," Justin looked to the twosome approaching them with a playful smile.

"I still find it amazing that no one seems to think that this a relationship like ours is weird in the slightest. I mean, usually people tend to have something to say about people dating other people older than them by a few years," Alex said with a hint of awkwardness in her voice.

"It's all because of the fact that there's nothing apparently wrong with you two being together. Plus, there's the added fact that you can take most of the guys that'd have anything to say otherwise," Justin said in full support of the girl he was addressing.

Alex, blushed, looking down, "don't remind me. I mean I know that I'm not freakishly strong, but it still freaks a lot of guys out that I know a lot of different technical moves."

"That's because you get it from watching Matt and Jeff always having their own matches on trampolines. And from what Matt would tell me when he was my mentor on NXT, you took to training very well," Justin said reassuringly.

"You're right. I mean, after all, the only people I was ever really able to train with were guys, so that's why I feel so much at ease competing against the guys. Which I hope you don't take as me trying to sound mean, Alicia," Alex bit her lip.  
"It's alright, Alex. You seem to be forgetting that I've been in the ring with you and Mary before, so I've been looking forward to another chance to go up against you tonight ever since Paul told me about the match," Alicia smiled brightly.

"Same here. I've never had the chance to see a match of yours where you competed against some of the Divas, so this will definitely be a treat," Justin added.

"Well, since it seems like I've got some expectations to live up to, I'll make sure to give you both an awesome match," Alex said as Cody threw an arm around her shoulders.

…

The group back in the locker room watched on as the mixed tag match in the ring unfolded. It was a change from seeing Alex compete against the men, so it was a welcome change for Matt and Jeff. Even Mary was enjoying seeing two of her closest friends in action together.

"I know that I've only seen them in action together once, but this match is pretty awesome," Mary mused with a soft sigh.

"I should've had a feeling you would've been enjoying this, Mare. After all, it's not every day you see two former enemies make up and then team together so well in a tag team match,'' Ted smiled at his girlfriend.

"Not to mention, it's a mixed gender pair that made up so quickly," Mary grinned at Ted.

As the match came to its end, Alex was able to execute a moonsault to Alicia and got the pin, securing the win for her and Cody. After the match, the four shook hands and raised each others' arms in celebration. Once they got their post-match celebrations done with, the group of four left the ring and headed backstage.

"That was a pretty good match we had tonight," Justin said.

"I'm actually just amazed that we were able to get a good amount of Divas time put into the match. And judging from what I was hearing, the crowd was really into it too," Alex smiled.

"That's a sign that we went out there and gave them all a good match," Cody nodded.

"And that's just what we love to do with each and every passing week," Alicia grinned, very proud of what she accomplished, despite her loss.

Soon the four split of and headed their own ways, with each pair headed in a different direction. Alex and Cody were almost back to the locker room when Alex collided with someone who was walking in her path.

"Oww! I think I just hurt my head on someone's back," Alex rubbed her forehead.

Turning around to see who bumped into him, Alex and Cody saw that it was Brad Maddox. Looking to see who it was, Brad immediately donned a nasty sneer. "For the love of all that breathes! You've got four eyes, Hardy. Can't you see out of any of them?" Brad asked in an irritated tone.

"I was watching where I was going. You were the one that was standing in the middle of the hallway," Alex said in her defense.

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that you walked into a WWE official. Now I demand that you apologize and that you do so now," Brad glared at the prodigy Superstar.

Looking up to Cody with a look that said 'Is he serious?', Alex almost opened her mouth to give him a smart aleck type comment. However, she immediately thought better of it and apologized, "I'm so terribly sorry that I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking. I promise that in the future I'll do my best to keep my eyes on my surroundings."

"That's better. Now, if you two would kindly excuse me, I've got a match to call. Make sure you don't forget our little discussion just now," Brad said before headed for the ring.

Once Brad was gone, Alex groaned, "and that is yet another reason why I always have my sketchbook with me."

"What would having Brad Maddox around have to do with you needing to keep your sketchbook with you?" Cody raised an eyebrow.

"Well, to explain it this way, Brad is a troll. Trolls are bad and evil. So to help me ignore and get past trolls, I pour my frustrations into my drawings. I remember it was one time that Vince pulled an ultimate trolling on me by making me wear typical Diva ring attire for a few of my matches, and before I knew it, I had drawn enough pictures to fill up a few sketchbooks," Alex sighed, rubbing the back of her head.

"Now that sounds like it was one hell of a stress reliever," Cody grinned.

"I picked it up from Jeff. I always saw him drawing and working on pictures, and that output only seemed to increase when he was angry about something. So, I decided to take that as a stress release tactic of my own. And it hasn't failed me yet," Alex said as they reached their locker room.

"Well, maybe you could show me some of the stuff you've drawn. Just try not to work your hands too much if you decide to have a bout of stress release," Cody said playfully.

"I'll do my best not to," Alex nodded, not quite getting Cody's joke and kissed him on the cheek and opening the door.

…

The others had been sitting in the locker room, waiting for Alex and Cody to come back from their match.

"They should be here by now. I wonder what's keeping them," Jeff said as he paced around in circles.

"They probably just got held up talking to Justin and Alicia. It's really nothing to worry about Jeff," Kaitlyn suggested with a shrug.

"Kait's right Jeff. After all, what do you think could possibly happen from here to the ring and back?" Matt said, trying to calm down his younger brother.

Jeff almost opened his mouth to say something in response when the door swung open and Alex and Cody walked inside.

"Sorry we're a little late getting back guys. We had a minor run-in with an unfriendly force," Alex bit her lip.

"Was this force either Titus O'Neil or Darren Young?" Mary asked in a hopeful tone.

"No. It was packaged in the form of everyone's favorite new headache, Brad Maddox. I walked into him by accident and he made me apologize for an accident that was caused by his carelessness," Alex frowned.

"Well, what exactly happened between you two?" Jeff asked.

"Cody and I were headed back here after we parted ways with Alicia and Justin, and the next thing I know, I just walk into him. Then he's telling me to apologize for it, and instead of giving him a healthy dose of my delightful smart aleckness, I just gave him an apology. And I must say, I'm still a little irked about it," Alex walked across the room to get her stuff out so that she could take a shower.

"Why it was they brought him up to be a referee, I'll never know. I think he only likes being in that position just so that he can be as much of a smartass that he wants and get away with it all," Mary shook her head in disgust.

"That's still no reason for us to pick up the Brad watch. It was probably just a one-time incident and I'm sure it won't happen again," AJ said in attempts to calm Mary down.

"I hope so. Last thing I want to have to deal with is a smartass that I can't fight," Mary said listlessly. There was something on Mary's mind that she wasn't quite ready to tell her friends yet. She just knew that she felt there may be a reason to address it before something happened. However, she would wait until the time was right.


	11. Chapter 11

The year had gone by rather quickly, and no one seemed to know why. At the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view Brad Maddox had gone "rogue" and attacked Ryback, then helped CM Punk retain the title. The following month a group known as The Shield had come out and interfered during the triple threat match between CM Punk, Ryback, and John Cena. These two incidents didn't sit very well with anyone, but there was no reason to believe that either were connected. Aside from the fact that it was real shitty for those who liked to play fair. Mary didn't have a match that night on SmackDown, but she wanted to be there anyway, because Ted had a match. Also, the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship was going to be announced that night, and everyone was sure that Jeff had it in the bag. Everything seemed to be going well. Ted had been the United States Champion for a little over a month, and Mary was thinking about going after the Intercontinental title once again. While the taping for SuperStars was coming to an end and the main show was about to begin, Mary sat in the catering area with her brother. She had a huge smile on her face as they chatting about everything that had been going on. She looked up as Alex, AJ, and Kaitlyn walked up to them. Alex and Kaitlyn knew who their friend was talking to right off the bat, but AJ didn't recognize him so quickly.

"You better not be cheating on Ted," the tiny, Hispanic Diva put her hands on her hips.

Billy chuckled as he turned to face his sister's friends. "Really AJ? I know that I broke up with you to go to Japan, but..."

Before he got a chance to finish, AJ jumped into his lap with a grin. "Oh my god, I'm sorry Xander. I totally didn't recognize you."

Mary blinked, "wait... the two of you?"

Billy nodded, "we dated for about a minute. We just sort of lost touch over the years."

"By the looks of it, there could be some possible rekindling here," Mary smirked at her friend and brother.

"What?" AJ quickly shook her head. "I'm not looking to get into a relationship just now. With all of the guys they've had me bouncing around all year in storyline, I'm sort of burnt out."

Alex rolled her eyes, "the biggest pusher of Ted and Mary, as well as Cody and myself really believes that we're just gonna let it go with that?"

AJ looked to her friends with innocent eyes, "a girl can hope?"

Billy sighed, kissing the side of his ex-girlfriend's head. "No worries, April. Where I am willing to admit that I still like you, I'm in no rush to get into a relationship."

"Wow, another couple?" Ted laughed as he and Cody walked up to Billy and the girls. "What have we done, Mare?"

Mary giggled, nodding. "I know, right? There is a plus side to it, though. Traveling with your significant other is never a bad thing."

"The woman has got a point," Alex nodded. "Though in my case, it gives my brothers an excuse to keep an eye on my boyfriend."

"It's sort of to be expected, hon," Cody smiled as he wrapped an arm around her. "They just want what's best for you."

Alex sighed as she leaned into her boyfriend, she was still a little self-conscious about the age difference, but no one else seemed to care, so she did her best to not let it get to her. "The good thing is that I'm pretty sure they trust you."

"Anyway," Ted grinned, "it's good seeing your brother with us, Mare. Does this mean you're finally getting up there on the card, Billy?"

Billy nodded, "I'm finally a solid mid-carder. I was only on SuperStars this week, but I'm actually going to start being on televised SmackDown matches very soon. We just obviously all know where the talent in the family has gone to."

"Hey now," Mary frowned playfully. "I may be better than you, but that doesn't make you bad in the ring."

"I hate to break all of this up," Kaitlyn interjected, "but it's almost time for the show to start. I know that Jeff's match is in the second half of the program, but we would hate to break tradition and not all watch it together. You should join us, Billy. It's only right."

Billy raised an eyebrow as he looked around at the group of friends, "are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude."

Mary shook her head with a smirk, "I think that Matt and Jeff are finally warming up to me. I'm sure that they'll like you."

…

After Ted's match was finished, Mary walked into the Hardy's locker room while Ted showered. She looked around to only see Jeff and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, where is everyone?"

Jeff looked over to his sister's friend as he put the finishing touches on his face paint. "Matt had the match after Ted's, AJ and your brother went to talk about something in private, and I think that everyone else just took a little walk to catering."

Mary nodded with a smile. She found herself staring at one of her idols in awe. The face paint was new for Jeff, but it definitely suited him. "Yeah, I never even know that AJ and Alexander even knew each other. They're cute together, though." She tilted her head, placing her hand on Jeff's shoulder, "you ready for your big moment?"

Jeff looked up to the former Intercontinental and US Champion with a grin. "Unless The Shield has a problem with it, I think that everything should go smoothly."

Mary rolled her eyes with a sigh, "I really don't like anything about them. I mean, I've heard some of the lower card guys talking. A lot of them are in full support of the attacks."

"That... can't be good," Jeff shook his head, trying to not think of what could possibly happen. He placed his hand on hers as the door opened, "I'm sure that I'll be just fine, though."

Ted smiled as he walked into the room and over to his girlfriend, "pep talk?"

Mary nodded as she kissed her boyfriend softly. "Just discussing the inevitable."

"The Shield?" Ted nodded. "I hate to admit that it's possible," he looked to Jeff, "but if it does happen, you can be sure that we've all got your back."

"That means a lot, man," Jeff shook the other man's hand. "That's the best thing we can do when it comes to a group like them. Stick together."

…

During the main event, Mary, Alex, AJ, and Kaitlyn were glued to the monitor in the locker room while Ted, Cody, and Billy sat on a bench behind them. The men didn't have to see what was going on in the ring, the reaction from the ladies told the entire story. Matt had accompanied his brother to ringside as Jeff faced off against Alberto Del Rio for the number one contendership for the World title. A title in which, no one was even sure why it still existed. WWE had gotten rid of the European championship in favor of what was once the WCW World title. Why they had done that, no one was really sure. A decade had gone by, and they hadn't even changed the design. Not that it was important, though. The World Heavyweight Championship was one of the most important titles in the company, and Jeff Hardy was mere moments from getting a shot at it. The match was fast paced and extremely exciting. Not that anyone expected anything less from Jeff and a former luchadore. In the end, Jeff hit a "Swanton Bomb" to end the match, causing all four girls to jump up and down, squealing and shouting for his victory.

"I guess the match is over," Cody chuckled.

"And we know who won," Billy laughed, nodding.

"This family will have more gold just yet," Mary grinned as she skipped over to Ted and sat in his lap.

"Next thing we know, Mary and Alex will be going for the tag titles," Cody shook his head as Alex sat down next to him as they waited for her brothers to return.

Mary shrugged, "we've got a better chance at getting them than the Prime Time Players, and um... how many shots have you and Damien got?" She teased her friend, sticking her tongue out at him.

Billy caught a look at his sister's tongue and blinked, "whoa Mare. When did you get that?"

"Oh this?" Mary opened her mouth and motioned to the barbell in the middle of her tongue. "When I was like nineteen," she shrugged. "I have a few more, I just don't wear them to shows."

"I'm not gonna ask," Billy shuddered. "Not about to ask if dad knows, either."

Mary smirked, shaking her head as the door opened and Jeff and Matt walked into the room. The girls all got back up, running over to Jeff and hugging him tightly. He laughed as he returned the hug. "Thanks, girls. It really means a lot to have your support."

Matt looked over to the guys who were just sitting on the bench, waiting patiently to congratulate Jeff themselves. He saw the look on Billy's face and tilted his head, "Mary, are you traumatizing your brother?"

Mary nodded as the girls all stepped away from Jeff. "He found out that my tongue is pierced."

The eldest member of the group looked over to Mary, raising an eyebrow, "and how did he find that out?"

"I was sticking my tongue out at Cody," Mary shrugged with an innocent smile as Ted, Cody, and Billy got up to shake Jeff's hand.

"I had a feeling that you were secretly a fellow needle lover," Jeff chuckled as he broke away from the group and slipped back to the showers.

Mary sighed softly with a nod as she looked over to Matt, "so no trouble out there?"

Matt shrugged, "nothing out of the ordinary. Though, I'm not ruling out the actual title match."

Ted nodded, "well all be ready for whatever comes."

* * *

**Thanks to everyone that has been sticking with us this long. I promise that we are VERY close to the main plot. Please R&R, and tell your friends about this story!**


	12. Chapter 12

The week following the SmackDown where Jeff was named number one contender for Alberto Del Rio's World Heavyweight Championship passed relatively quickly. Monday saw most of the group being involved in a variety of different matches, while the tapings of SmackDown on Tuesday were just about to begin. As usual, with the addition of Billy, the group was gathered in the Hardy siblings' locker room. Most of the roster was abuzz with talk about the match for the World Heavyweight Championship in the main event, but also there was talk spreading that the members of The Shield were at the arena for the night's events.

"Do you guys think it's weird that I'm having a weird feeling about tonight?" Alex asked as she got ready for the show.

"That all depends on what you mean by 'weird feeling' exactly. Does any of it have to do with Jeff's match later on tonight?" AJ attempted to clarify what Alex was talking about.

"Yeah. I mean, I have a feeling that Jeff could win, but I've been hearing stuff fly around about those guys in The Shield being here tonight," Alex replied with a shrug.

"I know you're worried about that, but remember that if they do try anything, Matt, Ted, Cody, and Billy are going to be there to help him out," AJ said reassuringly.

"AJ's right. After all, our crazy little family has got to stick together," Mary looked up, joining the conversation.

"I guess you guys are right. Speaking of, where are the guys at?" Alex asked, biting her lip.

"Um, last I had left them, they were all headed this way once Billy's match was over. So, they should be here soon," Mary said casually. Even as Mary said this, she couldn't help but start to have her own creeping feeling about what could happen later that night.

…

Matt was walking around the backstage area after his match against Daniel Bryan had ended in a submission win for Daniel. He was stretching his arms trying to regain some sense of feeling in them when he was approached by Brad Maddox. Not sure what to make of Brad being there, Matt raised an eyebrow and asked, "is there something that I can help you with?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact there is something that you can do for me. I'm aware that your brother is scheduled to be in the main event against Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship," Brad said.

"That is correct. Now why is it that you're bringing this up to someone that was ringside when he was named number one contender?" Matt asked.

"Well, I was just letting you know that I'm going to be his referee for the night, so if you decide to join Jeff tonight down at the ring, then I suggest you not do anything that could cause your brother to lose. After all, it's not every day that people get awarded title shots," Brad said, smirking before he turned on his heel and walked off.

As Brad walked off, Matt slowly started to feel a bit confused at his words. While he felt relieved that he knew who would be calling Jeff's match, he also couldn't help but feel that there was some kind of hidden meaning to Brad's words. Instead of spending the night there trying to think over what he was just told, he decided to head back to the locker room and take a shower. When he got back to the locker room, he was surprised to open the door and find that instead of the usual large group, it was just Billy, Cody, Jeff, and Alex. "Did I miss something or is there a reason the other girls and Ted aren't in here?" Matt asked, looking around.

"Ted had a match against Miz and the girls all decided to go hang around in catering until Kaitlyn's match," Jeff replied to his brother.

"That explains why they're all out, but why is Alex still in here?" Matt asked.

"I decided to just hang back in here. I was feeling wrecked after my match against Tensai, so I just came in here and fell asleep on one of the benches. Then, next thing I know, Jeff's coming in here waking me up in the loudest possible way he could," Alex shrugged.

"Oh really now? Tell me, sis, was anyone else with Jeff when he came in here?" Matt asked, a devious smile on his face as he looked over to Cody.

"Um, now that you mention it, I think I might've barely been able to make out Billy being with him, but I couldn't really tell since I had my glasses off," Alex said.

"I see. So, how'd your match go, Billy? Did it feel different to actually be competing in front of a live crowd?" Matt asked, changing the subject.

"It definitely was a bit of a step up from competing on NXT, so I'd say I did pretty great. I just wish I didn't have to get put up against Ryback," Billy said in a dejected tone.

"Don't worry about tonight. After all, there's always next week," Jeff said, encouragingly.

Hearing a knock on the door, Billy opened it and called over his shoulder. "Hey Cody. Your partner's here for you," Billy called, as Damien stuck his head through the door.

"Remember now Cody, we have a segment to do and then a quick match," Damien said, hurriedly.

"I'm aware of that. Can you just give me a minute to at least finish tying my boots first?" Cody shouted.

"Make haste, my friend," Damien said, retreating back into the hallway.

Heaving a sigh, Cody finished getting ready for his match.

"I take it he gets like that a lot when he can't get things done at a certain time?" Alex asked.

"It's one of his more annoying habits, but luckily, he'll be cooled down by the time I get out there," Cody sighed. "I'm just glad Mary didn't happen to be in here when he pulled that," he added with a chuckle.

"Well, just make sure you don't do anything to make him get more pissed at you. Last thing I'd want is for him to beat you up and for me to come hunt him down," Alex said, hugging Cody. "And yeah, we all know how protective she is. Plus, I think she's in a bit of a mood tonight."

"I'll do my best not to," Cody nodded, laughing as he left the room.

"Good luck with the drama queen, Codes. You're going to need it," Billy called jokingly after Cody.

…

By the time Cody had finished his recordings with Damien, Mary and the others made it back to the locker room to see Cody and Damien in their match against Primo & Epico. It was evenly matched up on both sides and the crowd appeared to be fairly invested in the action. Everyone in the locker room seemed to be watching the match, so when the ending came, everyone wasn't surprised to see that the winners of the match were Cody and Damien.

"This doesn't surprise me at all, but just seeing them in a team together is still a little weird," Mary said, still staring at the TV screen.

"How could it possibly make you feel weird to see Cody and Damien as a team? They're working really well as a unit, so there's nothing wrong with that," AJ said, trying to figure out what Mary meant.

"I think she's saying that because she wants to see Alex and Cody teaming up together," Kaitlyn said jokingly.

"It's not that at all. I just don't quite like the visual of them together," Mary shrugged.

"Would you mind letting us know about what it is that's making you voice this opinion?" AJ asked.

"Call it the diva in me, but honestly, I just think there's just something wrong with their whole facial hair deal going on. I mean, Damien's got the 'almost Santa' beard and my little Coddles is finally starting to look like a man," Mary said wistfully.

"You're honestly saying that pretty much the only thing that's keeping you from seeing them working as a team is their facial hair?" AJ asked, bewilderment apparent in her voice.

"Hey, I'm entitled to my own opinions. After all, I don't think Alex is all too pleased with Cody's new look. Are you, Alex?" Mary asked, jabbing Alex in the side.

"Am I what?" Alex asked, obviously confused.

"Aren't you pretty much not pleased with the fact that Cody's finally growing out a little bit of facial hair?" Mary asked, leaning her head on Alex's shoulder.

"Well, it's not exactly up to me to tell Cody what he can and can't do as far as trying to change his look up a little, so I don't really have a problem with it at all," Alex said, nervously playing with her glasses.

"I have this really strong feeling that you're quite possibly lying, but I won't question. I guess I just have to admit it. My little boy is finally becoming a man," Mary said, melodramatically as she tightened her grip around Alex's waist.

"Where's Matt when I need him?" Alex asked, looking around for help.

"Mary, please release Alex from your bearhug. You're going to quite possibly kill the poor child," AJ said sternly.

"I don't want to. I want my fake sissy to stay young for a while longer before she starts to get older," Mary pouted, tightening her grip even more.

"I take it we should try to go find one of the guys," Kaitlyn said.

"I'd agree, but I'd say it's only a matter of minutes before one of them comes back. After all, it's almost time for Jeff's match," AJ said, just as Matt, Ted, and Billy came into the room.

Taking in the sight before them, Ted turned to first look at Matt and then at Billy. Not quite sure what to say, Ted finally spoke up, "while all of us are confused, I just have to ask. Why's Mare holding onto Alex like she's a life raft?"

"To make a long story short, we were watching Cody's match and somehow seeing him and Damien as a team made Mary just blurt the fact that she's still feeling a little upset that it seems like Cody's growing up so fast. That and Cody's new bit of facial hair. Now she doesn't want to deal with Alex growing up so soon, which I think is an impossibility considering that Lexi is quite possibly one of the most childish people here," AJ shrugged.

"I'd argue with that statement, but you're right for the most part AJ," Alex said, playfully asking for air.

"So the only way that Mare thinks she can keep my dear baby sister from growing up too soon is by bearhugging the life out of her?" Matt asked.

"Either that or she plans on killing her," AJ laughed.

"I would never do anything like that to Alex," Mary said as loosened her grip a bit.

"Then would you kindly let Alex go so that you won't have to deal with two angry Hardys?" Ted asked, pouting playfully at his girlfriend.

"If you say so, Teddy Bear," Mary said, letting Alex go just as Cody walked into the room. She slumped down on the bench, not even noticing her friend's return like she normally would.

Looking around at each of his friends and his girlfriend, Cody raised an eyebrow, "was there something that happened in here that I should know about?"

"No, not really. Just some girl talk and some bonding. That's all," Alex said.

"Oh. That's understandable. I'm just glad to be done with my match, so now I can just sit back here for the rest of the night," Cody said, heading for his duffel bag.

…

Jeff had been finished getting ready for his big match against Alberto Del Rio all night, so he decided to leave the locker room early to go sit on one of the equipment crates backstage to calm his thoughts and focus on preparing for the match. He had just watched the end of the tag match between Team Rhodes Scholars and Primo & Epico, and he was impressed with how well it was contested. However, from the time he had left the locker room to when he made it to where he was taking part in his silent meditation, he had been hearing various murmurs from a lot of the roster members about the fact that he was getting pushed so soon for a title and so many of them had never even come close to a title shot. Among these talks, there were some that were even hoping that The Shield would actually make an appearance during the match just to derail things for both men. By the time it was time for his match to start, he made it to the gorilla and met up with Del Rio, only for the champion to take notice of his opponent.

"You feeling OK there, Jeff?" Alberto asked with concern.

"Yeah, man. I've just been thinking about some things. No need to worry about me," Jeff said. But even as he said these words, Jeff just couldn't shake this feeling that something was going to happen during the match.

…

Jeff and Alberto were putting on what people could arguably say was match of the night for SmackDown. When the bell had first rang to start the match, both men shook hands in a show of respect for each other. Once they got their handshake taken care of, the action really started to pick up with both men locking up with each in the middle of the ring. Alberto eventually broke their hold and Irish whipped Jeff into the ropes, but once Jeff came running back, he took Alberto down with a running clothesline. While Alberto was grounded, Jeff took this as a chance to work at his arms until Alberto was able to get to his feet and reverse into an armlock of his own.

The crowd appeared to be very invested in the match. There were alternating cheers for both men, so when it came to the major moves to be executed during the match, the crowd went crazy. Every near fall and near tapout kept the crowd on the edges of their seats.

Jeff seemed to be pleased with how things were unfolding, but as he kept taking glances at his referee, who was none other than Brad Maddox, he kept getting a sinking feeling that things were going to go bad before he could think about it. But, pushing his fears aside, he performed a Twist of Fate on Del Rio and was getting in position to d a Swanton Bomb. As Jeff climbed each turnbuckle, he couldn't help but look down and notice that Brad had this almost evil grin on his face. He didn't know how to interpret it until he heard the familiar feedback and start of the music that belonged to The Shield. Looking back down into the ring, Jeff saw that Brad had climbed out of the ring. Not wanting to take any chances, Jeff helped Alberto get to his feet as the three members of The Shield began their walk to the ring.

…

Back in the locker room, everyone was invested in the match up until the ending. It didn't take long for Matt, Ted, Cody, and Billy to take that as a cue to head down to the ring to go help Jeff. As soon as the guys had left, Alex let out a frustrated yell.

"I knew it! I just knew that something like this was going to happen," Alex said.

"Alex, don't get so bent out of shape about this. Matt and the other guys are going out to help Jeff out now, so we've got nothing to worry about. They have the numbers advantage on their side," AJ said, trying to calm Alex down.

"I know that AJ, but I just had a feeling something was going to go down the minute I saw that Brad was the referee," Alex sighed in exasperation.

As Mary sat back and listened while Alex vented her frustration over what was happening now, she couldn't help but feel that everything she felt about Brad was starting to turn about to be more than just bad feelings. And this attack was just the thing that helped cement these thoughts. A couple of tears made their way down Mary's cheek as she slipped her earbuds into her ears. She didn't want to face the world anymore that night. She almost felt like the whole thing was her fault, despite logically knowing she had nothing to do with it.


	13. Chapter 13

As the weeks went by the attacks by The Shield became more frequent. It had been two months since the attack against Jeff, and for the most part, everyone thought that it had appeared perfectly normal. However, the ones who were regularly attacked by them were beginning to get suspicious. This was largely due to the fact that it seemed that Brad Maddox had started to call the shots. Each time the attacks became more violent, but nothing had happened to send anyone to the hospital. At least not yet.

Everyone was coming into the arena for Monday Night RAW just six days after an attack that left Mary, Alex, and their friends more suspicious than ever. On SmackDown, Maryse was in a match against Alicia Fox, she had recently turned face, and began hanging out with Mary backstage, showing no hard feelings over Maryse's previous relationship with Ted. Granted, that had been a storyline, but Mary and Maryse were still friends in real life. Alicia was showing the most aggression she ever had in her entire career that night, and she was dominant through the entire match. Just as Maryse was about to fight back, Tamina Snuka and Aksana showed up out of no where and began beating Maryse down with Alicia. This wasn't in the script, but Mary happened to see what was going on while sitting in her usual spot in the Hardy's locker room. She ran out of the room with Alex and Kaitlyn on her heels. They neutralized the situation, successfully saving Maryse. After that Mary felt anxious the rest of the week, worried about the fact that the other Divas had not been penalized for going against the script.

As Mary sat down in the Hardy's shared locker room with the Hardy siblings, Ted, Cody, AJ, Kaitlyn and Billy she heaved out a sigh. After throwing a fit Tuesday night after the SmackDown tapings, she hadn't said much at all. Everyone in the room was well aware of what she suspected, and that she felt like it was her fault. She hated seeing her friends getting hurt, and the growing presence of Brad Maddox made her feel incredibly uneasy.

Ted walked across the room and sat down next to his girlfriend, bringing an arm around her. "Everything's going to be fine, Mare. You've got to believe that."

Mary laid her head on her boyfriend's shoulder as she nodded. "I know, baby. I just... I hate watching people getting attacked. What's worse is that it's not even scripted anymore. I mean seriously, who's next?"

Alex looked across the room at her friend, she wasn't ready to admit it, but everything that had happened in the past couple of months were beginning to take it's toll on her, as well. "We can't think like that, Mare. There is still no reason to believe that anything that has happened is connected. Some of the Divas are just getting fed up, and are looking for an opportunity."

Mary bit her lip as she linked her fingers with Ted's, "I guess that you're right. I just can't shake this feeling."

"You're not the only one," Jeff looked up as he was working on his face paint for his match later on in the night.

AJ hung her head, playing with the strings on her t-shirt. "Yeah, there is just something that isn't right about all of this."

Kaitlyn nodded, "something big is going to happen tonight."

Cody sighed, "well, we know that everyone in this room all have each others backs. No matter what."

…

About midway through the show, John Cena had a match against Heath Slater. It was mostly a throw away match, but with Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal at ringside, there were a few numbers added to the equation. Just as John was about to finish off the match, the other two members of 3MB climbed into the ring and began beating John mercilessly. Mary just happened to be near the interview area and caught the action on a monitor. Her heart dropped into her stomach as she watched her friend being pummeled. She bit her lip as John made a valiant effort, trying to decide whether to go out to the ring or not. It wasn't until she saw Darren Young and Titus O'Neil running down the ramp that she made her choice. She made her way to the Gorilla position and dashed down to the ring.

"Well, at least someone came to help John Cena," Jerry Lawler sighed.

"But will Mary be enough?" Michael Cole stated evenly.

"I've known Mary Williams most of her life, Michael Cole," Lawler nodded. "I can tell you that she has a lot of heart, but it's going to take more than heart to taken on five grown men."

Mary gave it her all for a few minutes, but eventually, she couldn't take anymore. She grabbed onto her left arm, screaming after a devastating blow from Darren. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she began crying out for Ted, Cody, and her brother. Minutes went by, and both she and John were still getting beat on, but no one came to their aide. The look on the faces in the crowd were all stunned. Most could tell that what was happening was real, and wondered what was going on.

"Where is Ted DiBiase and the rest of Mary's friends?" Lawler kept looking around the ring toward the ramp to see if anyone else was coming down. "Can we get some cameras in back or something?"

"I know what you mean, King," Cole agreed. "Usually at least the girls would be out here to help Mary out of the ring by now."

The first shot backstage on the Titan Tron was of Ted, Cody, Billy, Jeff, and Matt being subdued by The Shield. The were all beaten, and Ted was actually tied up. The crowd was in a stunned silence as another camera showed Alex, AJ, Kaitlyn and Maryse were getting the same treatment from Tamina, Aksana, Layla, and Cameron.

The Miz had been watching everything that had been going on and shook his head. Not only did the fact that his fiance was being attacked bothered him, but the fact that Mary was still getting beat on in the ring was really getting to him. He didn't know where to go first, but his questions were answered as Natalya, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, and Ricardo Rodriguez walked up to him. Ricardo handed Miz a steel chair, giving the other man a nod.

Natalya took a deep breath, quickly giving out a plan of action. "I'll do what I can with the girls, Randy and Sheamus go get The Shield, and you three head out to the ring. I think that Mary may actually be really hurt."

The five men nodded, not giving the orders a second thought as they all separated and attempted to neutralize the situation. It took nearly five more minutes before the attacks finally stopped. Just as Miz was helping Mary to her feet, Brad appeared on the stage.

"You!" Mary screamed, still obviously in a lot of pain. "What do you want?"

"You know what I want, Mary," Brad smirked down at the ring as he spoke into a microphone. "Welcome to The Uprising. I hope everyone enjoyed our little show."

…

The next morning, everyone was in the same hospital room. Mary having insisted that they all stick together after what had happened. She and Ted were the only one's that needed to actually go to the hospital after the attacks on RAW, but keeping everyone together made Mary feel a little better. Everyone else had been treated by the trainers, but everyone was on edge and agreed to Mary's request. Her shoulder had been dislocated, where Ted had suffered from a concussion. The room that they had all stayed in was somewhat of a suite. Normally men and women wouldn't be put in the same room, but there was no arguing with Mary. She had wanted to share a bed with her boyfriend, but she had to settle for adjacent beds pushed together close enough to hold hands. Mary was first to wake up the next morning, she looked around the room at all of her friends, old and new, with a new found confidence. Sure, The Uprising, as Brad referred to them, had grown from just The Shield, but now their side had grown as well. She looked over to Del Rio, who had slowly woken up, with a smile. "Hey," she said softly.

"Buenos días, señorita. (Good morning, miss.)" He whispered in response.

"Muchas gracias, Alberto. (Thank you very much, Alberto.) I know that you and Ricardo didn't have to help us, but I am very grateful that you did," Mary sat up a little, groaning softly in pain.

"It was no problem, and you may not want to sit up on your own. At least not until you're ribs are a little better," Alberto chuckled as Ricardo began to stir next to him.

"My ribs?" Mary whimpered.

"Si," Alberto nodded, "I heard them say there there is a little bruising." He paused, grinning at her knowingly, "you shouldn't be out of action for long."

Mary sighed, nodding. She hated what was going on, but she didn't know what to do about it. "I guess that on the bright side, I get to spend some time with my little boy."

"I'm sure that he'll enjoy that," Alberto smiled, "and we'll be ready for you when you come back."

Mary nodded as Ricardo opened his eyes with a smile, "are you feeling better?" He looked around the room and chuckled softly to see everyone still together.

"Hey, she insisted, remember?" Alberto smirked.

Mary smiled, "and I always get what I want. All of you were so great last night, I wasn't ready to separate."

"If I may, that looked a little personal, Mary," Ricardo frowned.

Mary shrugged, "I guess Darren took our little feud personally. No biggie though, Ricardo. I'll bounce back."

"It's Jesus, señorita," Ricardo smiled. "I figured that after this, we'll all become friends."

"And it may be better that we do with the way things are going," Mary sighed. "The attacks not only became more frequent, but now they're much more violent." She gazed over to the corner of the room where Alex, AJ, and Kaitlyn were curled up together on a couch, "and now not even the Divas are safe."

"So what are we going to do now?" Alberto looked over to Mary.

"We wait. It's too soon to bring the fight to them. At least not until we know what they want and what is going on," Mary reached over to take Ted's hand, who was just waking up. "It's gone beyond just Brad and The Shield, so we'll have to keep our strength in numbers, as well."

"Well you definitely have us," Alberto nodded. "We have too much pride in the sport than to just sit by and watch things like that happen." He smiled at Mary as Ricardo nodded in agreement.

…

A few days later Mary smiled as Marcus jumped on her bed to wake her up. She groaned, not opening her eyes, though thankful that she and Ted were still in way too much pain to have any fun, so they were both fully dressed. "Mmm, careful baby. Mommy still has a few owies."

Marcus nodded, carefully laying his head on his mother's stomach. "Is daddy's head getting better?"

Both Mary and Ted's eyes shot open when the words escaped the small boy's mouth. "What did you just call him?"

"I hope that's OK," Marcus frowned. "I just know that I'll never get to meet my real dad, because he's up in heaven, but I've watched some of the other kids with their dads, and Ted treats me the way that they treat their own kids."

Ted smiled as he reached over to ruffle Marcus's hair, "I am more than fine if you want to call me daddy, buddy. I plan on sticking with your mom for a long time."

Marcus nodded with a smile, "then I will."

* * *

**There, I am finally into the main plot. I hope that everyone is liking this so far! Please R&R!**


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